Happy memories comfort family of injured Everett woman

Published 11:50 pm Friday, October 10, 2008

EVERETT — Before the accident, Susan Rochel always liked to do things a certain way.

Every day, she went for a walk around the neighborhood, wearing one of her pink blouses and holding a cup of black Lipton tea in her hand.

It was on that daily walk two weeks ago that a sport utility vehicle hit Rochel, 49, not far from her south Everett apartment.

She was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Her family has been waiting for her to wake up, but she won’t. Doctors expect to remove her from life support today.

“I hope she felt all the comfort and didn’t feel any pain,” her sister, Lynne Rochel of Bothell, said.

Susan suffered a long list of injuries in the accident, including serious brain trauma.

Even though Susan’s heart has been beating for the past two weeks, her family members know she left them on Sept. 26.

That day, a woman driving a Nissan Pathfinder pulled out of a neighborhood in the 12900 block of Eighth Avenue W. onto the street around 4 p.m. and struck Susan. The vehicle also hit and knocked down a tree.

Over the last few days, Susan’s sisters, Lynne Rochel, Sheri Rochel-Lichty from Oregon and Leslie Rochel, who lives in Vancouver, Wash., tried to be strong for each other and for their mother, Joan Johnson of Tulalip.

Johnson said she spent countless hours at Harborview, holding her daughter’s hand and talking to her.

“Her family and that neighborhood was all she had,” Johnson said.

Susan was always the happiest at family gatherings.

“She was such a sweet, innocent person. She had a very simple life,” Johnson said.

Johnson said Susan had a learning disability. That was partly the reason she liked things a certain way.

She always wore pink shirts, drank her tea and smiled at the world. Almost every Friday and Saturday, she went to the nearby Cactus Moon Saloon to play pool and dance.

Bartender Stacey McMahan said Susan was known at the bar as the “Tea Lady.”

“Everybody knew Susan. She wore tiny white heels. She tipped us a dollar on every tea she ordered and was always excited to play pool.”

McMahan described Susan as polite, soft-spoken and patient. But she was more than a good patron, she was a good person, McMahan said.

“Whenever I’d come to the jukebox, she’d ask me to play (the band) Van Halen,” said Ray Vodegel, another bartender. “She was crazy about dancing.”

She danced all by herself, as if in her own separate world.

Vodegel said the staff at the bar really liked Susan. “It’s amazing how happy she always was. I feel really bad about what happened. It’s really weird not seeing her come in here any more,” he said.

Lynne Rochel said her sister was very girly. “She should have lived in an era when women still wore beautiful dresses and white gloves and little hats.”

She believes she lost her sister at the time of the accident. “We lost her then. I’m making peace with it as I go along,” she said.

“If you have sisters, cherish them.”

The woman lying still in the hospital bed the last two weeks wasn’t really Susan, Lynne Rochel said. But she was there.

The family decorated the hospital with pictures and brought the things she liked: her Bible, makeup and pink, fluffy slippers.

“It’s hard to wrap your head around that — that she won’t be around for Thanksgiving. But we have to try and move on with our lives as best we can,” Lynne Rochel said.

The family has posted fliers around the neighborhood hoping to find more witnesses to the accident, which is still under investigation. Lynne Rochel said the family was focused on Susan for the past two weeks and nobody was thinking much about why the accident happened. That will have to wait until the reality sinks in, she said Friday.

Meanwhile, the sisters spent the last day with Susan brushing her hair and painting her nails pink. They put on her makeup the way she liked. They got her ready for a final family gathering.

Reporter Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452 or kyefimova@heraldnet.com.