Oso shows its heart during ceremony honoring slide victims

OSO — The Sunday morning ceremony — short, direct and heartfelt — was vintage Oso.

It was a reunion of sorts and a milestone, too.

Six months had come and gone since the worst natural disaster in Snohomish County history.

Medics and firefighters from near and far, hobbled survivors and family and friends whose loved ones died in the massive March 22 mudslide gathered beneath a giant American flag. It was hoisted to the top of a tall, branchless tree that somehow had defied the wrath that devastated the valley.

They stood together on solid ground that once was an unforgiving swamp of mud, clay, trees and ravaged homes. It took four months, but the bodies of all 43 people who died that day were recovered.

Tim Ward, widowed and badly injured, walked with a cane through the wood chips and recently seeded soil. Near him was his loyal dog, Jeremiah, minus a hind leg taken by the slide. Ward thanked all of those who came to help his beloved community in the days, weeks and months afterward. He then led a prayer that spoke of renewal and a time in the afterlife when he and his neighbors will catch up with those they had so cherished.

Ron and Gail Thompson, his arm around her shoulder, wore black shirts with their old address — 30812 Steelhead Drive — stenciled in white letters on the back. They consider themselves fortunate. While they lost their house, they still have each other. The couple moved into a new home in Oso in July and they continue to try to help their displaced neighbors.

Dayn Bruner was there with his mother, Rae Smith, of Darrington. Summer Raffo — Bruner’s sister; Smith’s daughter — was swept 400 feet off Highway 530 as she drove to a horse-shoeing job in Trafton that morning. Her blue Subaru was swallowed up by the mud.

The landscape, so tamed by sun and heavy machinery a half year later, bears little resemblance to the morass where Bruner and his family searched for Raffo. He pointed to a maple tree on the periphery of the slide and the rebuilt highway as landmarks he uses to triangulate the spot where she was found.

“Every day gets a little better,” he said.

The search and the support his family received has helped him with his grief.

To his surprise, he hasn’t had nightmares, just one dream of a family get-together. Summer was there. It was nice to see her again.

Sunday morning was a time of hugs, handshakes and sharing memories.

In the crowd were a host of dignitaries, but no one — not the governor, congresswoman, state senator or county executive — spoke. It was not the time for speeches.

Willy Harper is the small-town chief of the volunteer Oso Fire Department thrust into a national spotlight after the slide.

“A reporter asked me what it feels like as we near the six-month mark,” Harper said Sunday. “I told her some days it feels like it has been 10 years and others 10 minutes.”

Later, he added, “We’ve learned many things in the last six months. One important one is to live each day to its fullest, appreciate what, and more importantly who, you have. All can be gone in an instant.”

At 10:37 a.m., the moment when the slide forever changed the valley, a color guard of firefighters in crisp ceremonial uniforms marched solemnly toward the tree where the flag moved limply in the waning summer breeze. They lowered it to half staff before raising it up again. A bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” drowning out a rooster crowing in the distance.

Bellevue Fire Department Lt. Richard Burke was a part of the honor guard. He got to know Oso well last spring, lending a hand in the grim aftermath as searchers scoured the debris for bodies. He grew close to the rural community and the teams of volunteers trying to help.

“People ask me: What what the hardest day?” he said. “I tell them, it was the day I left.”

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.