MARYSVILLE — The tribute, all 1,250 feet of it, came down in less than two hours.
With quiet efficiency, students and staff, city and tribal workers, parents and volunteers on Monday cleared the chain-link fence on the south entrance to Marysville Pilchuck High School.
A month earlier, on Oct. 24, a high school freshman shot five classmates and then himself in the school cafeteria. The fence served as a 7-foot-tall sympathy card for the grieving community.
Freshman Cameron Moody, 14, returned to the fence Monday wearing an “MP Strong” hooded sweatshirt. The dead and injured were his friends.
The fence, where early on he tied balloons and left teddy bears, helped him cope. On Monday, he removed posters and carried them away for recycling.
> See a panoramic photo of the memorial fence.
“It’s just sad,” he said.
It wasn’t easy watching the visual reminders of people he cared about taken down.
“It’s hard to explain,” Cameron said. “I’m never going to see them again.”
Gia Soriano, Zoe Galasso and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, all 14, and Andrew Fryberg, 15, died of gunshot wounds. So did the shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, 15. Fellow freshman Nate Hatch, 14, was shot in the jaw and is recovering.
Cameron is glad that the school district plans to create some kind of permanent memorial for his friends. The planning is in its early stages.
Frost and recent heavy rains took a toll on the wall, where deflated helium balloons drooped and flowers wilted, their stems gone brown and brittle.
On Monday, conversations were drowned out by the sounds of crumpling plastic and vibrations of wiggling fence.
The cleanup party removed a teddy bear with muddy paws, dream catchers, a large cedar wreath and the melted wax of soggy-wicked candles. It took down cards sent from Canada, Germany and Japan as well as Marysville Pilchuck alumni and schools across Snohomish County.
“The love on that wall was truly global,” said Anne Carlson, the district’s lead security officer who has spent many years on the Marysville Pilchuck campus.
Flowers taken from the wall will be turned into compost.
The plan is to use the mulch to nurture new life, said Joe Eyler, an agriculture science teacher who worked alongside several of his students involved in Future Farmers of America. They rolled off enough wheelbarrows full of faded flowers to fill half a dump truck.
The paper items will be burned and the ashes saved. Exactly how they will be used has not been determined.
Alongside students and staff were counselors and even a couple of dogs trained in comforting people touched by crisis.
Assistant Principal Lori Stolee surveyed the gathering.
“Once again, I am amazed at the outpouring of support,” she said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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