Family mourns the loss of a man killed in sugar factory accident

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Tristan Teter’s wife and mother said he was a loving, full-of-energy husband, son and dad – Teter was killed after being exposed to hydrogen sulfide at work.

BRUSH, Colo. — Stacy Hodgson is processing a loss, no parent should have to face as she grieves the loss of her 27-year-old son, Tristan Teter who died while working in a Fort Morgan sugar factory.

“It’s just, I think the worst thing a mom can go through,” said Hodgson. “It’s not right. It’s just not the way it’s supposed to be.”

Teter died after being exposed to hydrogen sulfide while working at the Western Sugar Co-operative on May 29.

Stacy shed tears for her loss, but more for the loss her daughter-in-law and grandkids are going through now that her son is gone.

“It’s horrible for me but I raised two wonderful boys, she still has to raise two wonderful boys now without the love of her life,” Hodgson said about Monti Page, Tristan’s wife.

Page said the last week has felt like a terrible nightmare.

“We grew up together,” Page explained. “We built a life and home for our little boys. We had so many plans.”

Page said she and Teter have been together since their senior year of high school and were engaged six months later.

“When you know, you know,” Page shared. “We were soul mates in like the truest sense of the word.”

“Yeah, you just completed each other perfectly,” Hodgson added.

Teter and Page have two young boys together. One who’s three, soon-to-be four, and a one-and-a-half year old. She said she’s worried that her kids will grow up and struggle to remember a man they only knew for a short time.

“My youngest is too young, but he’s started to grieve,” Page shared. “I can tell he misses him. He’s asked for him, that kind of thing.”

She and Teter ran a farm, so she explained that’s helped the conversations she’s had with her older son.

“He knows his dad is in the stars and he talks to him and we make time to sit with him,” Page said. “Tell him about our day, tell him we love him.”

Hodgson said Page was the one to call her and break the awful news. She said she knew before Page could say the words that the worst had happened.

“The first thing she said was, ‘Are you in a place where you can talk?’ and ‘Is there a place where you can sit down?,'” Hodgson said. “So I knew the minute she said that, something happened. And when she told me he was dead I just said, ‘No, it can’t be real. It can’t be real.'”

Hodgson said her oldest son was a great hugger and she felt him hold her that night.

“He used to always come up behind me and give me a big hug and I swear I felt that while I was sitting there,” Hodgson said.

Four sugar factory employees and two first responders were taken to the hospital, following the gas exposure. Teter was the only one not to survive.

“He always had something to do, something he wanted to do, and he got them done,” Hodgson shared, listing off the things she’ll miss the most about Tristan. “He didn’t just talk about things and never follow through.”

“He never let me quit,” Page added. “He always knew the right things to say. I think his positivity, his presence, his it’ll-be-okay attitude.”

Hodgson and Page said Tristan was one-of-a-kind and had an irreplaceable light.

“He was kind to everybody and he loved so fiercely,” Page said. “Like I never had to question if he loved me. It was just so clear like anyone who walked into a room, knew. And it was the same for the kids.”

“Everybody loved Tristan,” Hodgson said. “If you didn’t like Tristan there’s probably something wrong with you.”

Page and Hodgson both spoke to Teter’s love for history. This love inspired them to host his celebration of life at a museum in Sterling.

“He knew everything,” Page said. “He was like a walking encyclopedia.”

Teter is also being honored through a motorcycle and car show on June 29. Page said he loved to take things apart and put them back together. It’s what he did with his ’75 Chevy.

“It was his baby,” Page and Hodgson said, in unison.

Donations at the event will be provided to Page and her kids. Hodgson said the support is needed to help Page get on her feet. She explained Teter was the primary household source of income.

Hodgson said the outpour of love from the community already has overwhelmed her, but it confirms what she knows about her son in that he was truly celebrated by many.

“He didn’t know strangers,” Hodgson said. “He was fearless. Just a loving, kind, young man, and, of course, I’m biased but, of course, he was amazing.”

“I think, I’m still, it doesn’t feel real,” Page said. “I’m still sort of in shock. It feels like you could wake up, you know.”