'Cut from the same cloth': Family speaks about the loss of paramedics and best friends Jonah Swen and Greg Gaudette

Greg Gaudette and Jonah Swen knew each other from football in high school and then both of them became EMTs.

There were no strangers in this world to Jonah Swen and Greg Gaudette — just friends they hadn't made yet.

Those left behind are sharing their memories of the pair, who went missing last week while hiking along North York Creek Plane Crash Trail, located outside of Coleman, Alta., and were ultimately found dead at the bottom of a ridge at Mount Coulthard.

Jonah, 35, lived in Calgary. Greg, 34, lived in Lethbridge.

Both made their living saving lives.

They were cut from the same cloth, Jonah's fiancée Grace Garratt and Greg's wife Colby Gaudette told CTV News Calgary, with Grace speaking for both.

They were best friends.

"Jonah and Greg both played high school football. Jonah went on to play college football — he actually was on a team that won a national championship. So they knew each other from football in high school and then both of them became EMTs," Grace said.

"(They) started working together at the Blood Tribe — they worked for Blood Tribe EMS.

"They became very, very close and they have been kind of attached at the hip since then."

Grace says she met Jonah while she was working in the emergency room in Cardston, Alta., while he was with Blood Tribe EMS, and Colby met Greg while she was a CT tech in Lethbridge, while he was a firefighter-paramedic in Lethbridge.

Both men would have marked their birthdays around the time of their disappearance and deaths.

Greg and Colby have a 13-month-old son — Kace.

When Kace was born, Jonah and Grace gifted Greg and Colby a tree, which stands in their front yard.

Colby says that tree means even more to her now — it's a piece of Jonah she and Kace will always have.

"What I want the public to know — about not just Jonah but Greg — is that the loss of them both, I just can't even think of the effects that will have on people that they knew and that loved them," Grace said.

"(Jonah) was always encouraging people to get more education to better themselves — to take that next step. There was never a dream that was too big for Jonah. He thought anything was achievable.

"He was the love of my life. I don't know what life looks like without him.

"Colby said (Greg) was the most outgoing person. He could make anyone smile, was willing to help anybody and he was the best father to Kace and husband to her that she could have asked for."

Grace says she and Colby are grateful to the search-and-rescue groups from multiple communities and to the RCMP officers who were involved in the effort to find Jonah and Greg.

A celebration of life for Jonah will be held at the Lethbridge Exhibition Grounds' south pavilion, on Friday, Aug. 4, at 1 p.m.

A celebration of life for Greg will be held at Readymade Community Centre in Cranford, Alta., on Wednesday, Aug. 2, at 1 p.m.

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Written with files from Stephanie Thomas.