Family seeks return of man’s ashes, lost in car theft

EVERETT — Richard “Dick” Graham’s family gathered Wednesday to remember him.

“It was a celebration,” said his widow, Joyce. Before his July 22 death, Graham had struggled for years with Alzheimer’s disease.

Something was missing from the celebration, though.

Graham’s ashes were stolen Tuesday night along with his son’s car in south Everett. Now the family and police are asking the public for help finding the remains.

Anyone can drop them off at the Solie Funeral Home or a local police or fire station, said Joyce, who was married to Dick for 61 years.

“We don’t really care about the car,” she said. “We would like just to have the ashes back.”

Her granddaughter posted on Facebook on Thursday, “Drop them off and they will find their way back to us! No questions asked!”

Joyce and Dick had four children and five grandchildren.

One of their sons picked up the ashes Tuesday. He parked his Honda CRV in the garage of his apartment complex. That was about 5:30 p.m. in the 11000 block of Evergreen Way, Everett police officer Aaron Snell said.

By morning, the car was stolen. It’s a white, four-door 1999 model. The Washington license plate is AKG1121, and there was a black cargo trailer hitch. The urn is described as a plain gold-colored tin box, about eight inches square.

Repeated police radio bulletins on the case could be heard Thursday afternoon. A firearm and ammunition also were in the Honda, so any suspects should be considered armed, Snell said. Anyone who sees the vehicle is asked to call 911.

The family had planned to transfer the ashes into a Jim Beam decanter shaped like a car, Joyce said. Her husband was a car salesman.

“Nothing gave him greater pleasure than seeing people drive off in new cars,” she said.

Graham, 84, was born in Idaho and as a child lived on a farm in Snohomish, according to his obituary in The Daily Herald. He and Joyce met at Snohomish High School and married while he was in the U.S. Air Force.

He was a funny man who was known to put soap in the hot tub, so the kids could have a bubble bath, Joyce said.

At one point, the couple was raising four teenagers. “We couldn’t get everybody to want to do the same thing. I don’t know how we managed but we did,” she said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@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.