Memorial set for Monroe family killed in cabin explosion

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 15, 2018

MONROE — A memorial for the Monroe family who died in a fire and explosion June 10 has been scheduled for 2 p.m. July 8 at Cascade Community Church.

The service will be open to the public.

Jenny Drake and Jerry Drake, both 42, and their three boys died at the family’s Brinnon cabin.

The family of the victims issued a statement thanking Brinnon residents for allowing the Drakes to be a part of their community. They asked for privacy as they grieve.

“We’ve known what it is to lose a loved one — and it breaks our hearts,” the Rev. Nate Hettinga said on Facebook. “But to lose an entire family is devastating. We have questions, anger and tears. The Drake family is gone from us, but they’re together and home.”

The Drakes had attended Cascade Community Church for about eight years. There was a vigil at the church Thursday night.

“They were a big presence,” he said in a later interview. “You knew when they were in a room. You knew when their kids were in a classroom.”

“God was a central part of their lives.”

Hettinga said the two oldest boys regularly took part in the church’s Awana program. The pastor’s wife taught them at Sunday youth classes.

“She would say, ‘Those boys are the kind of kids that change the world,’” he said.

Jerry Drake was an electrician.

“They were doing so well as a family,” Hettinga said.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the explosion reported at the property last Sunday at about 1 a.m. Autopsies performed by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office found the family died of smoke inhalation.

Joseph Thompson: 425-339-3430; jthompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @JoeyJThomp.