Nathan had been Dalton's best friend since 1st grade. During 4th grade, Nathan's dad (also the school's 6th grade teacher) died. Dalton was profoundly affected by the death of his best-friends dad and wrote the following for a freshman English paper:

"My Friend's Dad Died"

"Death is never an easy thing to have to deal with. When I was in fourth grade at Christ Lutheran School, the sixth grade teacher, Mr. Laubenstein, died. Mr. Laubenstein was also my best friend's dad so this affected me very much. One Sunday after Church, I was in my room cleaning because we were having relatives over that afternoon. My mom called me into the TV room and told my sisters and I to sit down because she had something to tell us. She was crying and was very sad. When she told the family what happened, we were all very sad. Just the day before he died, my sister had requested Mr. Laubenstein to be her 6th grade teacher. The next day, we did not have school.  My friend Nathan did not come to school for over a week. It was a very sad time."