Community pushes to build memorial to remember those lost in Oso slide

The seven-year anniversary of the devastating Oso landslide this past week was a difficult day for the loved ones of the 43 people swept away in the tragedy. Those lost ranged in age from under a year old to their 90s — in some cases, generations of families were gone.

“We are love related,” reads a wooden sign that hung on the gate Monday, marking the entrance of what used to be the Steelhead Haven neighborhood in the small community of Oso.

Ron Thompson arrived to hang it shortly before the remembrance ceremony Monday on the seventh anniversary of the Oso slide.

State honors Oso slide victims, survivors, community

On March 22, 2014, it was a beautiful sunny day. Many in the Steelhead Haven neighborhood just off SR 530 in the small community of Oso were enjoying that Saturday morning at home or visiting loved ones. Others were doing work around the house, working, installing a satellite dish, while others were fortunate and out running weekend errands, as Thompson and his wife Gail were. They left 10 minutes before the chunk of mountainside gave way and came crashing down, swallowing the unsuspecting Steelhead Haven neighborhood.

For those whose loved ones were among the 43 souls lost that day, it’s impossible to believe it’s been seven years.

“It’s seven years. It doesn’t seem like it, seems like it happened yesterday to me. It doesn’t seem like it’s been seven years at all,” said Dayn Brunner, whose sister, 36-year-old Summer Ruffo died when the slide slammed into her car as she drove down Highway 530 on her way to shoe a horse.

For Jessica Pszonka, March 22, 2014, would bring truly unimaginable loss, as the slide took her six family members.

Pszonka lost her sister Katie Ruthven and her brother-in-law Shane. She also lost her 6- and 4-year-old nephews, Hunter and Wyatt, Shane’s mother Judee Vandenburg, and Shane’s stepfather of 30 years, Lou.

Photos: Oso mudslide memorial

Pszonka and Brunner, along with others who survived the slide and lost loved ones, are themselves family now, and gathered this week for their annual remembrance ceremony at the slide site. They also offered an update on their continued fundraising efforts to erect a permanent memorial at the site.

The memorial effort started as a conversation among the families not long after the slide, and grew into an ambitious $6 million plan that would create a beautiful memorial where the Steelhead Haven neighborhood used to stand, where families could come to reflect and remember their loved ones, the first responders who gave so much as they spent months searching first for survivors, then for remains and need a place to remember and heal, and for the community that came together in a show of support sure to inspire even the most jaded among us. Importantly, the memorial would serve as a place for all to come and learn about what happened (think Mount St. Helens Memorial). This was the deadliest landslide in U.S. history and as such should be remembered.

Remembering is what is so important to so many of the families and survivors.

“The biggest thing that I’ve always wanted — I don’t want my family’s names to be forgotten,” said Pszonka, explaining most other families feel the same.

“We want this to be remembered. It’s a huge event that happened in the state and in this country. So I don’t want them to be forgotten, and then more people that can be out there to educate themselves on what happened and pay their respects,” she added, recalling the prior weekend when she’d been to the site and saw a crowd gathered and making its way through the temporary memorial of 43 trees planted shortly after the slide, one for each of the victims.

“I mean, it’s crazy. We often drive by there in the middle of the week and there are people stopped up there,” she said.

The families have spent years working on the memorial, ensuring the design represents what each of those impacted by the slide wants, fundraising, and working with state and local officials, such as Snohomish County Parks.

Of the roughly $6 million needed for the original memorial design, $1 million has been raised through donations, fundraising, and even a ball to help raise dollars where tables ended up filled, largely with the families, first responders who volunteered in the search, and a handful of local media who had covered the slide.

Those touched by the slide say they need the memorial to heal.

“The more that we can tell the stories of those that we’ve lost, the more that we can tell the stories of those survivors, the more we can tell the stories of those that responded, the community effort that went into this, and keep that going for eternity, hopefully,” said Captain Joel “Chappy” Johnson, who was the local fire department chaplain when the slide hit.

“And for us, the focus isn’t about us in any way. Really, for us, I think that the greatest need is we just continue to seek help, donations, materials, different things like that, to help make this permanent memorial a reality. We’ve had a lot of people step up, but we always can use more help,” Johnson added.

It takes a toll on the families organizing the events, and contacting the right organizations, elected officials, and anyone else they can think of who can help.

During a six-month fundraising effort with KIRO Radio in 2018-2019, many of those who survived the slide, lost loved ones, and first responders struggling with PTSD in the aftermath bravely shared their stories, including those who rarely speak about what happened publicly. That includes Tim Ward, who was buried for hours with bones crushed after the raging slide ripped away his home, his four dogs, and his wife as he reached out trying to grab her hand.

It’s no easier for those like Pszonka and Brunner who openly share their stories regularly all in the hopes of raising the funds and donated materials needed for the memorial, only to continue coming up short.

Pszonka’s parents shared their story for the KIRO Radio fundraiser and have now taken a backseat. It’s too difficult for them to talk about after one too many disappointments.

Now, the memorial design has been scaled back some, and with that $1 million, if they can get all materials needed donated, they’re still more than $2 million short. So, they hope a nonprofit, one of our local billionaires, or any other miracle comes forward to help, and they are still pitching on their own.

Time is running out though. Part of the reason the memorial design has been scaled back is due to fact that parts of the site have become protected wetlands and, until building happens, that will continue to happen and shrink the memorial site.

But Brunner and Pszonka are determined to get it done.

“There’s times where Jessica [Pszonka], is kind of like, ‘I’m getting burned out,’ and that’s when I’m like, ‘alright, let’s go.’ And then I do the same thing, and vice versa,” Brunner said.

“We can’t give up,” he explained.

“I won’t. I mean, I won’t,” Pszonka added.

You can learn more about the Oso Slide Memorial efforts here. Find out what materials are needed here.

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