Oso Slide Memorial
Dayn Brunner
Our speaker on June 3 was Dayn Brunner, the brother of one of the victims of the slide. On March 22, 2014 at 10:37am, the SR530, or "Oso", slide engulfed the community around Steelhead Haven, just east of Oso. The mud and debris from the adjacent mountainside destroyed 49 homes and ended the lives of 43 people. One of those victims was Dayn Brunner's sister, Summer Raffo, when the slide engulfed a stretch of the highway. Summer was diving from Darrington to a horseshoeing job near Ryan Falls west of Oso.
Dayn Brunner
When word went out that the slide had occurred, efforts were made to contact Summer by phone. With no response from Summer, Dayn and Summer's mother had the bad feeling that Summer must have been trapped by the slide. The frantic calls from his mom and insistence that he needed to go find his sister, Dayn and his teenage sons ignored the barricades and headed into the mud and debris covering the highway with shovels to find her and the other victims. They were not the only Darrington residents which FEMA and the first responders finally allowed to aid in the recovery. All 43 victims' remains were finally recovered on July 22.
Five days later Summer's car was found buried in the mud. The search crew, working a different area than Dayne, contacted Dayn when they thought the car was found. They waited for Dayn and his 16 year old son Riley to remove Summer's body from the entombed car. After the body was recovered it was flown out by helicopter, Dayn noting that Summer feared heights and would not have liked the flight.
Dayn is part of the Oso Slide Memorial Committee which is working with Snohomish County to build a permanent Memorial at the site of the mudslide. The Memorial will honor the 43 who were lost in the event, the survivors, the responders, and the surrounding communities that responded. After much input from those effected by the slide, a concept was taken to a design firm and the design is ready for permitting and construction. Dayn had hoped to show plans during his presentation but he did not have them available.
There is a website dedicated to raising funds for the project. To go to the website, click HERE. The following is an excerpt from that website:
The intent of the Memorial is to pay tribute to the lost, the survivors, the response, the communities, healing and resilience of nature. The Memorial holds importance to the families of the lost and the overall community because it is and will be:
A place of peace and healing for all, whether they knew anyone involved or not.
A place to show gratitude to local communities and the worldwide response.
A community gathering space to honor the victims.
Individual Memorial space to personalize and leave messages and mementos.
The Fundraising Committee is seeking to raise $4.3 million in funds and donations to cover the costs of design, permitting, and construction in a relatively remote site. Additional funding is being sought for an endowment that will cover future maintenance and operation of the Memorial.
As with all of our programs since going on Zoom, Dayn's presentation was recorded and can be seen on our Club's YouTube Channel. To see the presentation, click HERE.
