SALT LAKE CITY — Two decades after a lightning strike tragically killed a young boy scout, a new book drive is honoring his memory.
Officials said the troop was prepared and in safe shelter, but nothing could’ve been done to prevent the death of 15-year-old Paul Ostler.
Now, his friend Matt Edwards, who was in the cabin at Camp Steiner with Ostler, is launching a book drive called Paul’s Pages.
“I don’t really remember a time when Paul and the Ostlers really weren’t in my life,” Edwards said.
Remembering a friend
He said they grew up in the same neighborhood and went on several Scouts camping trips together. A trip to Camp Steiner in the High Uintas in August of 2005 became their last trip together.
“The way it’s set up is you have what’s called an Adirondack cabin, so it’s a three-walled cabin and then has a bunch of bunk beds,” Edwards recalled. “You’re basically sleeping on hardwood with a sleeping bag.”
He remembers a rainstorm coming in, which ruined the boys’ card game. They went to bed. The next thing Edwards remembers is waking up.
“I think the electricity went up my sleeping bag zipper, so it insulated me, but I think it, like, kind of contracted my muscles,” Edwards said. “I’m just like seeing the scene of chaos and everyone’s kind of screaming and panicking and I don’t know what’s going on.”
Edwards remembers seeing people crowded around Paul.
“I didn’t really hear anything until I got to the hospital,” he said. “That’s when they said, ‘Hey, there’s this accident. One person has died.’ I immediately was like, I mean, it’s got to be Paul just from what I saw.”
Lightning strike victim’s mother remembers
Paul’s mother, Teresa Ostler, now lives in North Carolina. She remembers the incident vividly.
“The lightning bolt hit a tree six feet away from the Adirondack that he was staying at, and it just defies nature,” Teresa Ostler said. “When you send your child to camp, you just send them to have fun and to have a great time. I know that he was having the best time of his life.”
She and Edwards have returned to the cabin.
“There’s still lightning burns,” Edwards said.
“It’s a place of destruction, but it’s also a sacred place,” Teresa Ostler said.
After his death, Paul’s family gathered and passed along books for readers around the world.
“We gathered books together and put a book plate in, and then would give away books,” Teresa Ostler said. “We especially did it on his birthday and so we would have cake and ice cream and balloons and books. We probably have, probably 15,000 books circulating throughout the world.”
Reading was one of his favorite pastimes.
“He came home from school and he said, ‘I sat by a boy who doesn’t like to read,’” Teresa Ostler recalled. “He found one of his favorite books, and he just knew in his heart that if he took that book to his friend, that his friend would love reading.”
Edwards said Paul knew a lot about a variety of topics.
“He just had such like a vast vocabulary, random facts, details, things where we would say things like, how do you even know this? Where do you come across this? And in hindsight, I think a lot of that came from reading,” he said.
Edwards said he struggled with Paul’s death for years.
“Honestly if it was up to me, at 13, I would have decided, I don’t think I need to leave my house anymore, I’m just going to stay home. Why would I leave?,” Edwards said. “But, other friends, community, they just did a good job of, I feel like kind of dragging me out and just helping with the healing process and moving forward.”
Honoring Paul
When Edwards saw his own children, including his son, Finley Paul, showing an interest in books and an interest in Paul Ostler, he came up with “Paul’s Pages.”
“We are asking for new or gently used books to be donated,” he said.
They partnered with Granite School District for the book drive.
“They essentially split the books into two routes,” Edwards said. “Any new books, they go into a Santa grab bag that they have around Christmas time, and it’ll give books directly to kids that they can bring into their home and have their own books. Used books, they go into a teacher resource pool where teachers can pick books that they think will support their in class curriculum.”
Teresa Ostler said it’s the perfect tribute to her son.
“Paul loved transporting himself to a world, wherever it was in that book,” she said. “He thought that reading made the biggest difference and that he just wanted people to just jump on that bandwagon with him and, and enjoy the fantasy and the exciting story.”
20 years after she lost him, she’s grateful Paul is still known as a difference maker.
“He would want those kids to know that reading makes a difference,” she said. “Reading can help you become the person you want to be.”
All book donations can be dropped off at The King’s English Bookshop located at 1511 S 1500 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84105.
Donations can be sent to Matt Edwards on Venmo @Matthew-Edwards-54.
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