DeVries Family Supports Children’s Hospital in Memory of Son

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY DEVRIES FAMILY From left, Jaylen, Easton, Jamie, and Jared DeVries

One of Jared (98BA) and Jamie DeVries’ favorite stories about their son Easton is from the day he moved into Burge Residence Hall. It was August 2022, and Easton was following in his father’s footsteps as a student at the University of Iowa.

Easton's senior portrait while a student at Clear Lake High School.

Easton seemed a bit wary about the move, but it didn’t take him long to acclimate to Iowa City. “Mom, this is awesome,” Jamie remembers him saying when he called a couple hours later. “We all have our doors open and we’re just all roommates. We can go wherever we want, and we’re playing poker and video games.”

When the DeVrieses returned to Iowa City for the first Hawkeye football game that fall, Easton brought a big group of new friends to their tailgate. “He was in heaven,” Jamie says of her son’s time at Iowa.

That eagerness to embrace new experiences was hardly a surprise to anyone who knew Easton. Outgoing and warm-hearted, Easton was described by family as “always in the front row of life.” He made the most of his year as an Iowa student—and his 19 years with loved ones—before he died in July 2023 from complications of a congenital heart condition.

The DeVries family recently made a $100,000 gift in memory of Easton to the Stead Family Children’s Hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit. The PICU holds a special place in the hearts of the family after Easton spent his final six weeks bonding with doctors, nurses, and other families there. “You become very close to many of those individuals, especially when they’re dealing with some tough situations and making tough decisions,” says Jared. “We were all leaning on each other.”

Easton and older brother Jaylen are pictured at a Hawkeye football game in their younger years.

Easton and his older brother, Jaylen, were born in Detroit, where their father played professional football for the Lions. The family moved back to Iowa in 2010 after Jared retired from the NFL, and they settled in Clear Lake, where Jared coached high school football. Easton faced challenges from the start. He was born with a double outlet in his heart but no mitral valve, which required three surgeries before he turned 2. Despite these limitations, Easton was an avid golfer who qualified for the state tournament in high school, and he taught children at the local sailing school.

When Easton was hospitalized in Iowa City in 2023, the summer after his freshman year of college, Clear Lake rallied around the DeVries family. Neighbors flew flags with the letter E on their boat docks, wore bracelets and sweatshirts with his name, and gathered for a community prayer at the high school’s football field.

Though Easton’s health deteriorated before he could be added to the heart transplant list, he served as an organ donor through the Iowa Lions Eye Bank. Hundreds turned out for his memorial service at Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom, where two sails flanked his portrait.

“He touched a lot of lives, which, to me, speaks to the type of person he was and the spirit he had.” —Jared DeVries about son Easton

Kinnick Stadium has always been an important place for the DeVries family, but game days have now become particularly meaningful for Jared and Jamie. Last fall, Jamie became so overcome with emotion during each Hawkeye Wave—knowing what life is like for families at Stead Family Children’s Hospital—that she had to leave to watch the rest of the games in the RV.

At the same time, Iowa City brings back memories they never want to forget. The time Easton showed up to the tailgate wearing a banana costume, getting big laughs from his family and friends, for instance. Or the day in the hospital that his brother and girlfriend snuck him in chicken strips from Graze, his favorite restaurant.

“He touched a lot of lives, which, to me, speaks to the type of person he was and the spirit he had,” says Jared. “He lived life to the fullest.”

The DeVries family attends a football game at Kinnick Stadium several years ago. Pictured from left are Jaylen, Easton, Jamie, and Jared.