Marisa Vandeventer couldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving without plenty of whipped cream.
Two years ago, Marisa, 9, and her older sister, Elisse, 11, flung gobs of the white stuff at each other in a holiday food fight.
This year, their family and friends went to their former school, Cathcart Elementary near Snohomish, to plant a tree in their memory.
The girls were killed a year ago along with their mother, Sondra Brewer, and stepfather, Phil Brewer, when their single-engine plane crashed in Oregon. The four were flying to Palm Springs, Calif., to spend Thanksgiving with relatives there.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. The probe is expected to take at least a few more months, NTSB investigator Tom Little said.
“It’s tough not to know what exactly happened,” said John Vandeventer, the girls’ father. “And it’s still tough not to have them here with us.”
One of the girls’ neighbors, Jason Bradvold, donated two cherry trees in their memory. One was planted at Cathcart Elementary School on Memorial Day, and the other on Wednesday.
“Marisa was always happy and would want us to do this for her and Elisse,” said Madisen Phipps, 9, who helped plant the tree. “She was the best friend a kid could have. “
John and Shellee Vandeventer will host a dinner for about 20 family members at their Snohomish home today. “Faith and family is how we’ve gotten through this entire year,” John Vandeventer said.
The girls would always play hide-and-seek on Thanksgiving, so relatives will make sure to carry on the tradition, he said.
Both sisters loved being with family during the holidays, he said, including with stepsister Kindra and stepbrother Jakob.
Before Thanksgiving, Marisa would always help her stepmother make pies. “Marisa would have eaten a whipped-cream pie if you’d given it to her,” Shellee Vandeventer said.
Elisse “just liked coming downstairs and seeing the fire in the fireplace,” she added.
The family has framed a goodbye note Marisa penned before last Thanksgiving, as well as a picture Elisse drew of her and her sister as angels. Two angel ornaments will hang on the family’s Christmas tree this year, one for each of the girls.
“We’ll add two more angels every year until the tree is covered with angels,” Shellee Vandeventer said.
The ornaments will be given to Jakob, 5, who misses reading with Marisa and drawing pictures with Elisse.
“Our faith carries us, because we know we have two little treasures in heaven we’re going to join someday,” John Vandeventer said.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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