GOUVERNEUR — When their son died in an automobile accident in May, Gina C. and Danny M. Weldon wanted others to experience what he had loved.

They established a memorial fund that will send a junior and a just-graduated senior from Gouverneur Central School to Wyoming, where Joseph Danny Weldon, who was 22 when he died, worked on oil rigs and was a licensed hunting guide.

"It was quite amazing what he did at such a young age," his mother said. "He was always begging people to come out there. We went after the accident. I know why he loved it."

Joseph Weldon, Dubois, Wyo., died May 18 at Wyoming Medical Center, Casper, Wyo., of injuries suffered as a passenger in an automobile accident the day before near Dubois.

After graduating from Gouverneur Central School in 2003, he worked as a roofer and lived briefly in Florida before he was hired as a hunting guide in Wyoming. He had spent each fall with Fritz Meyer, guiding hunts in the Wind River and Absaroka Mountain Range.

The memorial fund in his name quickly drew about $4,000 from north country residents and those who knew him out West.

"He had forged a lot of friendships in Wyoming," Mrs. Weldon said. "They're very enthusiastic about keeping it going. So many people have been so generous."

The first trip, a nine-day jaunt in July, will go to recent graduate Blake S. Spilman and junior Ethan C. Constance.

"It was a complete surprise," Mr. Constance said. "We didn't know what to expect, but it was pretty cool."

Seeing another part of the country, riding horses and fishing in cool mountain streams will make him think of Joseph Weldon, Mr. Constance said.

"We've always been good friends with the family," he said. "If I like it out there, I might go back."

The fund will pay for travel expenses. Mr. Meyer will take the teenagers on a fishing trip.

"As long as we can do it, he'll do it free," Mrs. Weldon said.