Iowa State’s campus holds a special place in the hearts of Mikel and Megan Jones.
“That’s where we met,” says Megan (’10, ’11). “It’s our home away from home.”
As accounting students more than a decade ago, it was Mikel (’10) who needed help on an assignment.
“I was on WebCT (an online learning portal) one day and a little conversation window popped up,” says Megan.
The two met at Parks Library and realized they had several classes together.
“I was using WebCT as my online dating website,” Mikel says jokingly.
The two graduated from Iowa State and had dated for four years when they returned to Ames one summer day and started to walk across campus.
“Right on the sidewalk in front of the campanile, I turned around and he was down on one knee,” Megan says.
The two were married in 2015, and three years later their son Luke was born.
“Everyone always commented on his blue eyes and long eyelashes,” Megan recalls of her son.
Shortly after he was born, Luke was diagnosed with a rare gene mutation. After several complications and two years of physical therapy, doctors performed a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor found in the rear lower part of Luke’s brain. But less than a month after the surgery, most of the cancer had returned.
“They knew it was a very aggressive, fast-growing situation and that chemo treatment was not going to work,” Mikel says. “At that point, we just went home and made the best of it for a month or two.”
On March 14, 2021, Luke passed away.
In the two and a half years Luke was alive, he planted countless memories in his family’s minds.
“Everyone always commented on his laugh and his smile. He loved being in the sun,” Megan says.
During the funeral process, a family friend presented the Jones family with a way to honor Luke for years to come: an oak tree, to be planted on the campus of Iowa State.
The couple selected a location on the southeast side of the Gerdin Business Building.
It’s a special place the couple — along with their children Lucy, 4, and Louis, 2, — return to often when they’re back in Ames for football games, gymnastics meets, or just to walk among the beauty of the 13,000 trees on campus.
“Visiting campus has always been something that is personal for us, but having the tree physically there gives us an even more special, specific place to visit that feels like a part of our family,” Megan says. “We talk about Luke with the kids a lot at home and have many reminders of him there, so it is meaningful to be able to experience that on campus as well.”