Family, friends gather as 13 names added to DUI wall

EVERETT — They were brought together by a loss that affects each person, each family and the community.

About 100 people gathered in the rain Thursday afternoon in a grove at McCollum Park south of Everett. Friends, families, police and prosecutors were there to watch as 13 names were added to the Snohomish County DUI Victims Memorial Wall. The names were for people who’ve been killed by drivers who were drunk or on drugs.

The youngest victim never took a breath. She died in a premature birth after a car driven by her mother, six months pregnant, was struck by another vehicle whose driver was impaired.

The oldest victim was 77. She was a grandmother on her way home with Christmas presents when she was struck by a drunken driver.

There are now 138 names on the memorial wall, which was built in 2001.

“Truly none of us wants to be here,” said Jan Schemenauer, who helped coordinate the event for the county. Her first husband’s name went on the wall years ago.

“For those of us who loved them, somehow it never makes sense,” she said.

Schemenauer has helped many of the families prepare testimonies for speaking to middle and high school students, and for panels that DUI offenders must attend under court orders.

Families suffer as they relive the experience every time their story is shared, said Conrad Thompson, a volunteer with the county DUI task force.

The names don’t include those who were grievously injured and survived. The names of the impaired drivers aren’t allowed on the wall, but passengers are there.

Tobin Darrow never understood the affects of drunken driving before 2009, he said. That’s when the longtime deputy prosecutor started handling most of the vehicular homicide cases in the county.

His first case was a driver who killed two couples on Highway 9 in the Marysville area. Five children lost their parents in that crash, Darrow said.

“You don’t understand the carnage that is happening every day,” he said.

It seems impossible and sickening, Darrow said, but that case was just one example, even as society is making progress in changing the culture around impaired driving.

County Executive John Lovick, a former Washington State Patrol trooper, said he is tired of seeing new names added to the wall.

“There is no reason in this world you should get in a car with alcohol in your system,” he said.

The wall is both a reminder to remember those who were lost, and a symbol of hope that people are listening, and that someday the senselessness will stop.

Thirteen families each had a turn to speak Thursday before they peeled back a white rectangle to reveal their loved one’s tile. Each laid a rose at the base of the wall. Some of the deaths are recent. Some happened decades ago.

Erin Wheeler lost her daughter, 27-year-old Stephanie Proffitt, in 2013. Before, Wheeler said, she used to laugh more. Now she often feels afraid.

“I miss who you were,” she said. “I miss who you would have become. I miss who you were going to be, and I miss who I was going to be with you in my life.”

Three years after Shane “Hugz” Santos was killed, it’s just as difficult for the teen’s family as it was in the beginning, they said. Whether a parent’s child is killed by gun, knife, or car, the effect is the same, said Jagdish Sharma, who lost his daughter, Anita. The Sharmas have fought for longer sentences for offenders.

Jessi Smith’s grandmother, Genevieve, saw her off to her first day of kindergarten. She was still a girl when her grandmother, a quiet, purposeful woman, was killed in 1991.

Those who were brought together Thursday to remember have an opportunity to teach others about their loss, and to warn people not to drink and drive, Jessi Smith said.

“The impact of one small decision is just too great,” she said.

Ryan Kenyon was 25 when his friend wrecked a car near Monroe, killing them both.

“He was going home at the end of the night,” said his father, Randy Kenyon. “He never asked for it. He had so much to give, so many friends.”

After setting down the rose, Ryan’s mother, Karin Kolrud, kissed her fingertips and touched them to her son’s tile.

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

The people

The following names of victims of drunken driving crashes were added Thursday to the DUI Victims Memorial Wall at McCollum Park south of Everett. For more information about the wall, contact 425-388-7269, janice.schemenauer@snoco.org.

Margaret Anna Feaster, 33, died in 1967, leaving behind her husband and four children.

Ellen “Ellie” Rose Floyd, 17, died in 2010. She was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a drunken driver.

Ryan Lee Kenyon, 25, died in 2013. He was a passenger in a vehicle driven by one of his good friends who lost control on a curve near Monroe. The driver died as well.

Dennis Moore, 36, died in 1988. He was hit head-on near Granite Falls by a young man under the influence of alcohol and drugs who was attempting to pass another vehicle. Moore served three tours in Vietnam.

Stephanie Nicole Proffitt, 27, died in 2013. She was the passenger in the vehicle driven by her boyfriend, Tyler Martel, who also died. Martel tested positive for marijuana.

Shane “Hugz” Santos, 19, died in 2012. He was walking down the street in Marysville with two of his friends when they were struck by a driver, who is now in prison.

Anita Sharma, 31, was killed by a driver in 2010 in Lynnwood, while waiting for a taxi.

Genevieve Smith, 77, was struck head-on in 1991 by a driver going more than 100 mph.

Peter Snow, 19, died in 1994. He was a passenger in a vehicle when an impaired driver ran a red light and hit them. Snow, who grew up in north Everett, died at the scene. The driver of the car in which he was riding was nearly 6 months pregnant at the time. Her baby, Jasmine Kay VanRossen, died at birth five days later.

Meghan Stivers, 28, was struck in 2011 while sitting in her car outside her work on the Tulalip Indian Reservation.

Scott Tharp, 23, was killed in a 1995 crash near Monroe when the driver failed to negotiate a curve.

David Thompson, 24, was killed in 1982 on the Tulalip Reservation by a driver who crossed the centerline. He loved fireworks, the outdoors and heavy metal music.