Hit-and-run victim ‘gave all she had’

Published 7:16 pm Thursday, October 14, 2010

SULTAN — Paula Stierns spoke with her daughter for the last time about a month ago.

Stierns, a homeless woman, would call from time to time and tell her daughter, Brandy Ross, she was doing OK.

“She was just calling to let me know she was thinking about me, just checking in,” Ross said.

Ross gathered with friends and family on Wednesday afternoon at River Park Pavilion to remember Stierns, who was killed Friday night in an unsolved hit-and-run near U.S. 2 in Sultan.

The rain stopped as the memorial service began, and about 40 people gathered in a circle around a modest bouquet to pray.

Bryan Johnson knew Stierns through the Crosswater Community Church, which aids Sultan’s homeless. He said Stierns had a generous spirit and was eager to lighten the load for others. When she had two blankets, she would share one.

“I never saw Paula without her giving me a hug,” said Johnson, the church’s community care coordinator. “For someone who didn’t have much to give, she gave all she had.”

Stierns, 47, chose to live on the streets with her husband, Donald “Sterno” Stierns, and their dog, Bubba-Do.

Her lifestyle led to several close calls. She was rescued from flooding in Sultan one year. The freezing water left her with some frostbite.

Another time, she fell into a fire, suffering burns on about 10 percent of her body, Ross said. She wound up at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for about a month.

When she was sick, she would go to her sister Bonnie Griffin’s home in Everett. Once she was well, she would leave.

“She would always choose to come back here (to Sultan),” Griffin said.

Aaron Day, a pastor at Crosswater, spoke with Stierns from time to time, offering her a cup of coffee and a sympathetic ear.

He was worried her lifestyle would eventually catch up to her, he said. He never suspected that she would be the victim of a hit-and-run, however.

“That wasn’t on my list,” Day said.

Stierns was struck by a vehicle when she was returning from fishing along the river with her husband about 8:15 p.m. Friday on the 311th Avenue SE bridge near U.S. 2.

Many at the gathering were still struggling to understand her death. They were angry the driver left the scene. Others initially were worried Stierns’ death might be swept aside because she was homeless.

That hasn’t happened.

Collision investigators with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spent about 10 hours in Sultan on Wednesday, handing out fliers near the site of the accident in an attempt to gather tips, officials said. They believe the vehicle involved will have front-end damage.

Stierns’ death is the second unsolved hit-and-run along U.S. 2 this year. On May 30, Heather Trickler, 15, was killed while walking along the highway’s trestle east of Everett.

Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com.