From the time he was a youngster, John Roberts wanted to help people. After the Omaha native graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2005, he volunteered for the Peace Corps.

John, 24, was within a month of completing his two-year commitment when he was killed in an accident Thursday, Oct. 11, 2008. He was serving on the island of Erromango in the Republic of Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, some 1,100 miles east of Australia

According to a Peace Corps press release, John was working with students in a garden at the time of his death. A student was trimming a tree when a large branch fell and struck John, killing him instantly. Another member of the island community also died.

As a boy, John played soccer and other sports with the YMCA and developed an interest in horses. For several summers, he was a counselor in the horseback riding program at the YMCA Camp Pokamoke near Council Bluffs. As his senior project at Westside High School, he wrote a handbook on how to care for horses at the camp.

John majored in art history at UNL and planned to get a master’s degree in museum studies. Although he was not an artist, he loved art and was a very good art critic. In his father’s word, &8220;He wanted to help people and he did help people. He wanted to learn new cultures, and he wanted to learn them first hand.&8221;

John knew Spanish when he joined the Peace Corps and learned to speak Bislama, one of the official languages of Vanuatu. In the Peace Corps, John served as a construction and skilled-trades education volunteer in a remote village call South River. His parents visited him there last year. They found it to be a very family oriented culture and were pleased to discover that the village had adopted John as one of their own. His father said John was considered a chief in the village because of his knowledge and personality. He lived with them without trying to force anything on them-adopting their lifestyle and eating their food.

Peace Corps spokesman Richard Parker of Washington, D.C., said the South River community credits John for helping improve transportation, income generation, and communication capabilities. According to Parker, the community remembers John mostly for his warm personality and for the way he lived with the, played with them, and grieved with them.

John is survived by his parents, Douglas and Rose Roberts of Omaha; grandparents: Dale and Rose Roberts of Norfolk, Neb., and May Monson of Blue Earth; aunts and uncles: Wynn and Jody Roberts of Norfolk, Neb., Janine and Steve Pilcher of Blue Earth, Donna and Ronnie Bartness, Karla and Gene Tukua, all of Hartland, Erik and Susie Monson of Bricelyn; and many cousins and friends.

A funeral service was held Oct. 17 at Lord of Love Lutheran Church in Omaha, Neb.