Sometimes, when he was a teacher, Darin Detwiler would look at his students and realize they were the same age as his son Riley, if Riley were still alive.

Riley was just 17 months old when he lost his life 21 years ago. He was one of four youngsters in the Northwest who died from an E. coli O157 outbreak linked to contaminated, undercooked meat at Jack in the Box restaurants.

Detwiler said seeing his students, alive and healthy, reminded him of the importance of trying to be a good teacher, and of weaving the subject of food safety into his classroom content.

“There’s a reason why I am alive and my son is not,” he said. “If I’m going to justify why I’m alive, maybe it’s to continue to be of service and to make a difference in this world. It helps me to go to bed at night.”

Detwiler and his wife, Vicki, were living in Bellingham when news of the E. coli outbreak went public in mid-January 1993. At the time, they were parents to two boys, Joshua, 9, and Riley.

As a precaution, they stayed away from Jack in the Box, but Riley became sick after being exposed to an infected child in day care.

Riley soon showed signs of illness and was flown to a Seattle hospital in serious condition on Feb. 2. Despite major surgery and intensive care, he died 18 days later.

Nearly 500 people were infected by eating the contaminated hamburger meat in Washington and three other Western states.