Oso family’s home is hub for helping hands

OSO — Beneath the eaves of their covered porch are boots — lots and lots of boots.

Nearby hang jackets and coats with various reflective stripes.

The porch is a kind of transition zone where much of the outer-clothing worn in the contaminated debris fields is stripped off.

Inside, other garments are discarded into piles for a daily washing.

Nichole Stinson has found herself doing a lot more laundry since the March 22 landslide erased much of the hamlet that is Oso. Hers has been a tiny but necessary task in the whole scheme of things.

At the height of the days when local volunteers were used in the search, the Stinson home off Oso Loop Road seemed a bit like Grand Central Station with people coming and going, often on different shifts. At one point, 12 people — family, relatives and friends — were staying there and pitching in.

They did whatever work they were assigned.

Nichole’s husband, Corey, a Boeing employee, worked in the debris fields and helped with traffic control.

Five of the couple’s six children, ages 16 to 27, lent a hand. Four helped sift through the dirt for personal effects and other possessions that could provide clues where the missing might have been buried.

The Stinsons don’t crave attention. They figure they’re just a typical Oso family wanting to help others find their loved ones.

Nichole rattles off the names of several neighbors and recites their many contributions since the slide.

The hours so many have spent searching through the mud and dirt or helping in other ways only reflect what Nichole has known all along: Oso was and continues to be a place where neighbors look out for one another.

“It’s not really any different,” the family matriarch said. “Anything from needing a bike pump to ‘I broke down on (Highway) 530’, you can count on your neighbors. I don’t think that has changed.”

For Montana Stinson, who’s not quite 16, volunteer work was away from the front lines. He helped out at the Oso Community Chapel and with local firefighters in any way he could.

Morgan Stinson, 18, joined the Oso volunteer fire department a couple of months before the slide never anticipating it would be the epicenter of such a devastating event. He proudly wears his Oso Fire Department cap.

His time in the debris fields and working as a scribe at the fire hall monitoring the comings and goings of emergency workers has only added to his admiration for his fellow volunteers and others.

“It makes you feel good knowing you are part of something that’s making a difference,” he said.

He just hopes more can be done to locate the missing.

“We’ve got to find them,” he said.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.