Not long after Ryan Holdren got home from his job at Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy one evening in March 2021, the school’s secretary called him and told him one of their students was on TV. A fire had just destroyed the apartment where 14-year-old Petey Jones lived, killing his older sister Maronique, who had cared for Jones after his parents died.
Without hesitation, Holdren, then working as a high school social studies teacher and assistant football coach, texted the ninth grader — whom he had driven home every night after practice for the past two years — with a simple message.
“Hey, I know you have a lot going on,” he wrote, “but if you ever need it, you’re always welcome to stay with me.” A few weeks later, Jones, a football standout and excellent student despite a series of personal tragedies, accepted Holdren’s hearty offer and has been living with him and his wife, Caitlin Dates, ever since.
Petey Jones with his late sister, Maronique Sanders in 2013.
Courtesy of the Jones family
“We just wanted to give him something consistent,” says Holdren, 35, who is now Jones’ legal guardian. “We wanted to give him a place where he feels safe, somewhere where he can grow up.”
Over the past three years, Holdren and Dates have watched the teenager deal with the lingering trauma of losing his father, Randolph, 40, to a heart attack in 2017, and then his mother, Bridgette, also 40, to an unknown illness on New Year’s Day. 2021 — and then his 24-year-old sister just two months later.
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Petey Jones with his late dad Randolph Jones Jr. (left) and grandfather Randolph Jones Sr. (right) in 2013.
Courtesy of the Jones family
Jones, 17, calls it “the bad times” and says Holdren and Dates’ presence in his life has made a big difference.
“They were there for me no matter what, letting me know that I would always have a place to call home,” he says. “They are two angels.”
When Jones first entered Holdren’s life in 2017, their focus was football. The seventh-grader — who only recently lost his father — wanted to play on the school team, but he didn’t have a ride home. Holdren told Jones “not to worry” and soon he began driving the boy every night, while Dates, a kindergarten teacher at the time and Holdren’s girlfriend at the time, would often join them for dinner.
“We spent a lot of time together,” Holdren says of the friendship that quickly deepened. “He’s such an awesome kid.”
For more on Petey Jones and the Holdren family, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.
The decision to bring Jones into their lives—and Holdren’s choice to become his legal guardian in 2021, with the blessing of Jones’ remaining biological family—was an important one, but it was also surprisingly easy to make.
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“We never really talked about it,” says Dates, 34. “Maybe it was stupid of us not to talk about the logistics and everything that was involved, but we both just felt like we were doing the right thing.”
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(L-R) Everett Holdren, Caitlin Dates, Ryan Holdren and Petey Jones.
Kristin Brown
Of course, there were adjustments. “I learned pretty quickly that he needed more structure,” says Holdren. “There were a lot of messy rooms and eating in the bedroom.”
But Jones has shown “remarkable” perseverance and personal drive, Holdren says. When he’s not tutoring first graders or working at the mall, the teenager — who wants to become a nurse if his NFL dreams don’t come true — can be seen doting on Holdren and Dates’ son Everett, who just turned 1.
“Whenever he comes home from school,” Dates says, “Everett gets a big smile on his face.”
These days, Jones is busy sifting through the stack of college acceptances (13 at last count) he’s received in recent months. His journey from a shocked, grieving boy who was once afraid of the dark to a confident young man was worth watching, Holdren says.
“Petey is truly an inspiration. It’s amazing to know what he’s been through and what he’s done for himself. I have nothing but confidence in his future.”
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Source: HIS Education