HIGHLAND -- Jared Willmore's life ended far too soon last week, but his family says they believe he may have sensed his time would be cut short.

The 17-year-old Lone Peak High School senior loved to dabble in everything, including sports, music and education, said his father, Regan Willmore. He played the piano and other instruments, sang during junior high, played football and was a yellow belt in jiujitsu. He was always trying new things, but never stuck with anything for very long. It seems he tried to pack his young life as full as he could, his father said.

"Almost like he knew he wasn't going to be around long," Willmore said.

Jared Willmore died Nov. 4 after falling during a hike above Cedar Hills. Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said the teenager left during school to hike in the foothills. At about 6:20 p.m., another hiker found Jared's body and called police, about 20 minutes before his family reported him missing.

Cannon said Jared fell while he was hiking. It is not a particularly difficult place to climb, he said, but there are some steep outcroppings where a person could fall. Cannon said no one knew that Jared had gone hiking, and the search could have been quite prolonged if another hiker had not happened upon his body.

"If you didn't know where he had gone and you just knew that he was missing, I don't know that that would be the first place you'd go," he said.

Regan Willmore said the family misses Jared terribly, especially his siblings. They were each others' best friends, but he said the family is comforted knowing Jared is "where he's supposed to be."

The family's religious beliefs have comforted them, and Willmore said he has seen small miracles since his son's death that have helped them through the grief. The hiker who found Jared is a marathon runner who had not trained in some time, but felt compelled to train Wednesday, he said. Coming back from his run, the man decided to take a game trail back, something that he would not normally do.

"Just the fact that Jared's body was found Wednesday night was a miracle in and of itself," Willmore said.

Although it is hard to lose a young son, Willmore said Jared certainly died doing what he loved. He was active his entire life, to the point that he broke his arms or wrists six or seven times. His family liked to joke that the hospital had a room reserved for Jared.

"He was just such an active kid and did so many things," his father said.

Jared's ambition to work in medicine could be seen in his many trips to the emergency room, where he intently watched the doctors. Willmore said his son loved to read and had several medical textbooks and could draw and label a human hand. He worked hard in school in his five advanced placement classes and a medical assistant course at the Mountainland Applied Technology College.

One of the AP classes Jared was taking was not even a class he needed. He only took the class because a friend needed it to graduate, so he agreed to take it with him.

"That's the kind of kid he was," Willmore said.

Alpine School District spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley said Jared rode the bus to school on Nov. 4, but he never showed up in his classes. Although he left for the day to go on a hike, Bromley said he was a great student who was doing well in school. His teachers said he was always positive and upbeat with everyone he met.

"He was very quiet, but he always had something to contribute in class," she said.

Willmore said such a sentiment was indicative of his son. Jared could send the room to the floor in laughter with one comment, but he never wanted to be the center of attention. He never wanted anyone to make a fuss over him, and wouldn't want them to now, he said.

"He would tell us right now that he's fine, not to worry about him," Willmore said.

A funeral for Jared Willmore will be held today at the Highland 6th Ward LDS chapel, located at 6100 W. Chapel Drive in Highland. The funeral will begin at 11 a.m., with a viewing from 10 to 10:45 a.m.