What does a loss mean?
-Continuing the story from the Alaska Airplane crash that happened 25 years ago, chapter 6
For new readers of this Substack. Buckle in. We are now in the second to last chapter of the saga of a terrible airplane accident that happened 25 years ago with a Redlands pilot at the helm.
Read about the accident in the previous chapters I wrote here:
Chapter 1: Following the news of the crash that happened Jan. 31, 2000
Chapter 2: Pilot Ted Thompson according to his pilot friends
Chapter 3: Reading the final NTSB report from December 2002
Chapter 4: Learning to live with grief from Marilyn Thompson, Ted’s wife
Chapter 5: Does time truly heal when tragedy strikes?
THE VICTIMS
On board of the fatal Alaskan Airlines Flight 261 on that clear late afternoon, Jan. 31 2000, I would like for us to hold a minute silence especially for the little babies on board: Emily, Spencer and Grace. Today they would have been in their mid-twenties, done with college and ready to get on with whichever career they chose.
In this Substack I usually write about things we do in the Redlands' community and why it's important to show up. Sometimes I think it's important to know who is/was part of our community. To read and learn deeply about something that makes us care more than surface level.
Also, where has long format journalism gone? Nobody reads it, everyone wants 200 characters or less. Quick bites, no substance. I know after doing this story that long form is extremely time consuming and if you are one of the lucky ones, you get compensated (ha ha, not me). But where does that leave the smaller communities, the stories worthy of sharing from them? The stories of regular people doing their job, not someone famous or famous adjacent.
I think it's worth writing about and reading about. I hope you agree.Then there were the husband and wife missionaries of The Rock Church, an ice cream salesman celebrating his 50th birthday, the longest continuing Seattle Times wine columnist, a well-known Native Alaskan leader and a KSFO radio talk host. There were the computer and copy machine firm co-owner and his life partner real estate agent who owned a bed-and-breakfast in Puerto Vallarta that were on the flight.
And what about the two families with four students from the John Hay Elementary School in Seattle who perished in the crash.
What made the crash so devastating for the Alaska Airlines, were the seven employees and 25 of their relatives and friends who had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta. This marvelous resort town that the airline employees dreamt about would be their stop over one of these days. Back then they took their friends and families along to see why that beach was on the top of the list.
According to the Los Angeles Times article from February 2, 2000, “Thompson told friends three weeks ago how excited he was that he temporarily had been given the Puerto-Vallarta-to-Seattle run.” That location was everything.
The crew of six people went down with the plane, the captain, the first officer and three crew members. You can read a complete list of each victim here.
For every tragedy there are real people behind. In this piece we pay attention and make space for the victims, their loved ones left behind and the grief itself.
So many times, we read a story about devastating loss and move on to the next thing in life, the next social media post, the next headline, the laundry and what ever else needs to be tended. What would happen if we tended to the loss, even if it’s 25 years ago? What would happen if we carried old grief along our current journey?
Grief never goes away1, but becomes something we carry because we have to. In this piece I experiment with the thought of having all of us carry grief, not the individual that was personally affected, but us a larger community together could tend a grief like this, even today.
Go slowly through this list and send a compassionate thought to each of the names below:
CREW
1. Ted Thompson, Capt. of Redlands
2. William Tansky of Alameda
3. Kristin Mills of Seattle
4. Craig Pulanco of Seattle
5. Allison J. Shanks of Seattle
PASSENGERS
1. Lawrence Baldridge of Seattle
2. Renato Bermudez of Granada Hills
3. Michael Bernard
4. Malcolm Branson of Seward, Alaska
5. William Bryant
6. Ryan Busche
7. Abigail Busche
8. Gabriella Chavez of San Diego
9. Jacqueyn Choate of Santa Cruz
10. Toni Choate of Santa Cruz
11. Sheri Christiansen of San Francisco
12. Carol Clemetson
13. Spencer Clemetson, infant son of Carol
14. David Clemetson of Seattle
15. Blake Clemetson of Seattle
16. Miles Clemetson of California
17. Coriander Clemetson of Seattle
18. John Cuthbertson
19. Avine Deo of Seattle
20. Monte Donaldson
21. Dean Forshee of Concord, California
22. Jerri Fosmire
23. Allen Friedman of Round Lake Beach, Illinois
24. Jean Gandesbery
25. Robert Gandesbery
26. Meghann Hall of Enumclaw, Washington
27. Aloysius Han of Oakland
28. Barbara Hatleberg
29. Glenn Hatleberg
30. Robert Hovey
31. Russell Ing
32. Rachel Janosik of Enumclaw, Washington
33. Karl Karlsson of San Bruno, California
34. Carol Karlsson of Petaluma, California
35. Joseph Knight
36. Linda Knight
37. William Knudson of Sacramento, California
38. Rodrigo Laigo
39. Naomi Laigo
40. Bradley Long of Sacramento, California
41. James Luque of San Francisco, California
42. Juan Marquez of San Francisco, California
43. Ileana Ost of San Bruno, California.
44. Emily Ost, infant daughter of Ileana
45. Bob Ost of San Bruno, California
46. Cynthia Oti of Oakland
47. Sarah Pearson
48. Grace Pearson, infant daughter of Sarah
49. Rodney Pearson of Seattle
50. Rachel Pearson of Seattle
51. Deborah Penna
52. Jean Permison
53. Stanford Poll of Mercer Island, Washington
54. Anjesh Prasad of Seattle
55. Avinish Prasad of Seattle
56. ‘Clarke’ Paul Pulanco of Seattle
57. Charles Russell of Hayward, California
58. Barbara Ryan
59. Bradford Ryan
60. James Ryan of Redmond, Washington
61. Terry Ryan
62. Ellen Salyer of Sebastopol, California
63. Stacy Schuyler of Washington
64. Donald Shaw of Shelton, Washington
65. Charlene Sipe
66. Joan Smith of Belmont, California
67. Ryan Sparks of Enumclaw, Washington
68. Perry Stasinos of Seattle
69. Thomas Stockley of Seattle
70. Margaret Stockley of Seattle
71. Janice Stokes of Ketchikan, Alaska
72. Morrie Thompson of Fairbanks, Alaska
73. Thelma Thompson of Fairbanks, Alaska
74. Sheryl Thompson
75. Robert Thorgrimson of Poulsbo, Washington
76. Lorna Thorgrimson of Poulsbo, Washington
77. Nina Voronoff
78. Colleen Whorley
79. Steve Wilkie of San Francisco, California
80. Bob Williams
81. Patty Williams
82. *
83. *
* Two passengers’ names were not released.
Thank you for caringly scrolling through this list. Each name matters. Thank you for coming along these chapters. Next week I will discuss a little about what the future looks like and where you can support.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this piece, please like and subscribe.
My goal is to get 1% of Redlands population to subscribe. Is that too lofty of a goal? That’s 700 people. Can you give me a hand in this? Please, share.
With gratitude, Siw