In Darrington, a slide reunion means laughter, tears

DARRINGTON — It was encouraged, on Saturday at the Darrington rodeo grounds, to sit in the sun and drink a beer and share a laugh.

The jokes had sharp edges, though, and the stories did, too. When folks who were affected by the Oso mudslide come together, it’s OK to laugh, and it’s OK to cry.

There is a sadness shared, to be able to look back together and remember, but also joy, to see each other smile and know how much has been accomplished, how much life has happened, since March 22, 2014.

And this being Darrington, that means homemade pie, live country and rock music and little kids in camouflage sharing camping chairs.

More than 100 people had arrived at the rodeo grounds by late Saturday morning for the slide reunion event, United By Mud, and that was long before the live music and pulled pork dinner. Hundreds more were expected. Some locals said they got up early to finish chores in time.

In spring of 2014, the rodeo grounds were turned into a mini-city for disaster workers. On Saturday, there were bake sales, arts and crafts vendors, and a car show.

The Darrington High School volleyball team’s bake sale was raising money for the girls to attend a volleyball camp in Eastern Washington.

By noon, they were nearly halfway to their goal of about $5,200. Everyone chipped in to bake, said incoming freshman Abby Johnson, 14, and sophomore Mishelle Konertz, 15.

Janie Green was among the volunteers at the Darrington senior center’s bake sale booth. She wore an angel necklace that was donated at the local fire station after the slide. The necklace featured a metal heart pendant, engraved with the message, “Made With Love.”

Green was joined by Jim and Margaret Alexander, who live along Highway 530, east of the slide. He painted the “Thank you” sign that stood along the highway for more than three months, accompanied by an American flag.

The Alexanders brought the sign to the rodeo grounds, with the flag now faded and frayed. A National Guardsman told them he recognized it from his time in Oso.

Pam Fritchman, a Darrington firefighter and craftswoman, urged them to help with the reunion. Darrington families pitched in with cakes, pies and brownies.

“I said, ‘I need stuff.’ Three or four days later, we got overloaded,” Jim Alexander said.

It reminded him of the funeral dinners in town, when everyone cooks.

“They all pull together and it’s all free for people, and they all support each other and it’s really all about community,” he said.

Fritchman was sharing fliers for upcoming farmers markets and swap meets in Darrington while selling postcards and tie-dye T-shirts.

Joseph Miller, 47, had given her his postcard-making supplies before he died in the slide, she said.

For more than a decade, Summer Raffo, who died in the slide, had been the only person Fritchman trusted to trim her horses’ hooves. Fritchman spent nearly a week working in the incident command post on the Darrington side.

“We miss Summer,” Fritchman said. “She was really part of this network.”

Fritchman used to work at the White Horse convenience store along Highway 530. Miller and his father, Reed, used to place their order in advance once a week, she said.

She and her former coworkers remember the people lost from Steelhead Haven not so much by name as by face, what kind of ice cream they bought or what brand of beer they drank, she said.

Among the musicians conducting sound checks was the Rev. Joel Johnson, a pastor who became the full-time chaplain for the Oso fire station after the slide. Donations have come in to keep him there through 2015, he said.

In the campground, Nichole Wilde gave a couple of kids a glass of fruit juice to share.

The slide claimed Wilde’s eldest daughter, 19-year-old Delaney Webb.

She moved back to Darrington that March, staying close to town ever since. It’s not often she finds herself driving past the fallen hillside, but she takes comfort in it, she said. She wishes it didn’t look so different now. With its smooth gravel planes and sculpted mounds of sifted dirt, the orderliness doesn’t match her memories. It doesn’t match the grief.

Some of the most routine things are changed now, like when someone asks how many children she has, she said. What answer works, without telling every stranger about Delaney?

“I have five, but I only have four, but I don’t want to say just four,” she said.

A friend from Darrington, Annie Green, brought Wilde to the reunion, sharing a camping trailer. They were joined by Brett Ivey, a Skagit County man. He and Annie Green both had worked in the mud. Annie Green, who is also Janie Green’s daughter, calls herself a “second-growth Tarheel,” a nod to the North Carolina roots and logging heritage of many Darrington families.

Ivey remembers the long, late drives along Highway 20 on his way home from the slide site, he said. He’d missed reunions at the six-month and one-year marks, and wanted to make it this weekend.

“This community is like a family,” he said.

The plan for United By Mud was to host an event where people would feel comfortable, said Rhonda Cook, a Darrington woman who helped organize the reunion. She spent months working in the rescue and recovery efforts. Summer Raffo was one of her dearest friends.

Everyone’s families were affected, she said. Children saw their parents’ faces when they came back from the mud at night. So did spouses.

Since the early days, names and faces have blurred. The weekend provided a quiet place to reconnect.

“Whatever people are feeling, it’s OK for them to feel it,” she said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.