Stansbury Park » Family members at the memorial service Saturday for John Jones thanked search-and-rescue team members for their efforts and said they consider them to be a part of their family.

"It was John's time to go. You were not meant to be successful on this one," said Jones' father, Leon Jones. "We love you and we're so thankful for you."

John Jones died late Wednesday after becoming stuck in an unmapped finger of the Nutty Putty Cave west of Utah Lake. Jones died following a 27-hour rescue effort involving 137 people, many of whom were among the approximately 400 who attended the memorial service at the Stansbury Park LDS Stake Center. Officials decided Friday to close the popular cave with Jones' body entombed.

"In a very real way, you have rescued all of us who are here today," Elliot Morris, stake center president, said to rescuers. "I was moved by your risks. You saved me from a cave-like darkness that I would call a darkness of cynicism and doubt."

Jones, 26, was a medical student in Charlottesville, Va., who was home in Utah for the Thanksgiving holiday. Jones, who was remembered Saturday as an adventurous, fun-loving and vigorous man, graduated from Dixie High School in St. George. He later met his wife Emily at Brigham Young University and the couple had a 14-month-old daughter, Elizabeth.