After finishing their evening shift at a downtown Downers Grove restaurant in the middle of a snowstorm, coworkers Charlie Kim, his friend Natanael Felipe Roberts Hernandez and another colleague made their way to another establishment for an afterwork beer.

Kim went home about 10:30 p.m., and Hernandez stayed on until 12:30 a.m. when he began to make his way home.

As Hernandez walked north across the BNSF tracks near Washington Street in Downers Grove, he was fatally struck by a westbound freight train.

Once home, Kim ordered pizza for delivery and learned from the driver that there was a pedestrian accident on the train tracks.

At the time, Kim recalled, “I had no idea that was Nate.”

The incident, he said, “was 100 percent an accident.”

He said reports indicate that as Hernandez was walking across the tracks, he stumbled.

Kim said those who have read news reports that Hernandez crossed the tracks while the gates were down might assume it was a suicide.

“I can assure you it was not a suicide,” he said. “Nate was full of life. Everyone knows that.”

During their last night together, Kim said Hernandez was excited for the busy holiday season for restaurants.

“He was very much loved in town,” Kim said. “It crushed all of us.”

The last thing the two friends discussed was meeting the next day.

“Nate was the type of person that when you made plans, he would call,” Kim said.

The day after the accident, Kim called Hernandez “and there was no answer.”

Another of Hernandez’s friends called Kim to “hear the terrible news. We were all in shock.”

“Not only was he a coworker, but he was also a really, really good friend of mine,” said Kim, a Downers Grove resident. “(He was) like a brother to me.”

“If something would have happened to me, I’m pretty sure Nate would have done the same thing for me,” he said.

Recently, the two, whose birthdays fall a week apart, celebrated with a birthday dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse for Hernandez’s birthday and a Chicago Bears game for Kim’s birthday.

“He turned 35 in November,” Kim said.

With Hernandez’s mom living in Chile, a brother, Pablo, in Australia, and a sister, Angelique, in New York, “I thought it was my duty to help,” Kim said.

Kim started a GoFundMe to help with funeral arrangements and transportation for Hernandez’s relatives.

To date, the GoFundMe has raised more than $13,000 from 101 individuals with a goal of $16,000. Donations have been paused, but for more information, visit www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-nate-aid-for-his-family.

Kim and Hernandez originally met working together first at Ballydoyle Irish Pub in Downers Grove. The two also worked at Wasabi Restaurant in Downers Grove.

“We would see each other every day,” Kim said.

A memorial service was Dec. 30 at Ballydoyle’s Barrelman’s Room, where Hernandez worked beginning in November 2023.

Both of Hernandez’s employers took to social media to express their condolences.

On Facebook, Ballydoyle said that the “Barrelman’s Room lost an incredible bartender and the world an even greater individual.”

The Wasabi Restaurant also posted a message in his memory saying, “There are some people who walk into a room and change the temperature. Nate was one of them. It feels unreal to say this, but our friend and teammate, Nathaniel, has passed away. We have been sitting with this heavy truth, trying to understand a world that suddenly feels quieter without him.”

The post continued, “Behind the bar, Nate wasn’t just mixing drinks. He was creating small moments of joy. He treated every cocktail like a story and every guest like someone worth knowing. He cared about the craft. He cared about people. He cared in a way that is rare these days. He came from a life shaped by movement and culture. Born in Argentina to missionary parents. Time spent in Chile and Brazil. He carried all of it with him. That warmth. That sense of humor. That way of talking about soccer like it was a sacred language. He had layers. History. Soul.”

Kim said a Tuesday was chosen for Hernandez’s service because many of Hernandez’s friends also work in the service industry and it was an easier day for them to get off from work.

“I would like for anyone that knew Nate, whether it was a customer who enjoyed his cocktails or those who enjoyed being around him, to come and meet the family and get some sense of closure,” Kim said.