Sunday’s one-year anniversary of the death of U.S. Forest Service officer Kristine Fairbanks of Forks and recent California retiree Richard Ziegler of Sequim passed quietly and that was by design.
"The family asked that everything be kept low-key. The National Forest staff is respecting those wishes so there will be no public observance of the anniversary," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Tom Knappenberger on Friday from Portland, Ore.
The Rev. Pamela Hunter from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Forks said the congregation prayed for the Fairbanks family on Sunday but also respected the family’s wishes to not have a big public ceremony.
"Then on All Saints Sunday (Nov. 1) we remember everyone who died in the past year," she said.
"We are keeping it low key. (Kristine’s husband) Brian really had had enough of having all the grief brought up to the surface with all the special events that took place after Kris died."
In addition to her husband Brian, Kris Fairbanks is survived by her now-16-year-old daughter Whitney, father John Willits, stepmother Pat, and brother John Willits, Jr.
Hunter also asked people remember the Ziegler family in their prayers.
"He had moved up here and was building his dream home and was shot and killed as well," she said.
Ziegler, 59, of Los Osos, Calif., was born in Montebello, Calif., and graduated from Durango High School in Colorado in the late 1960s. He founded his own home construction company there, moved to Morro Bay, Calif., in the late 1970s then moved to Los Osos in 1983.
Ziegler retired as a tower officer from the California Men’s Colony on April 30, 2008. Then he moved to
Sequim and began building his dream home on four acres off Louella Road southeast of Sequim.
Ziegler was cremated and his ashes buried in his fishing tackle box at the Cambria Cemetery, next to a plot that holds his father, Roland Ziegler.
Cambria is a town of 6,500 people located 35 miles north of San Luis Obispo on U.S. Highway 1 along California’s Central Coast.
Longtime friend Larry Kelly of Cambria said
he didn’t know of any
public anniversary ceremonies planned in Ziegler’s hometown.
"It hit (Ziegler’s mother) Helene so hard. It’s just one of those things in life that’s really just not fair. They probably will do something private over at the cemetery. I also want to express my deepest condolences to the Fairbanks family," Kelly said.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict, who awarded Medals of Valor to two deputies following the shootings, also said Sunday’s anniversary would pass quietly.
"We’re keeping it low-key. As far as anything the family is going to do, that is going to be private," he said.
Fairbanks was killed Sept. 20 near the Dungeness Forks Campground when she confronted a man, later identified as 36-year-old Shawn M. Roe of Everett, who was driving a
van with no license plates.
Roe later shot and killed Ziegler on his property off Louella Road and stole his pickup truck.
Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies Matthew Murphy and Andrew Wagner shot and killed Roe when he drew a gun on them at the Longhouse Market & Deli in Blyn.
More than 3,000 people gathered Sept. 29 at Civic Field in Port Angeles to remember Fairbanks.
Benedict awarded the Medal of Valor to both Murphy and Wagner a month after the shooting.
Gov. Chris Gregoire and
Attorney General Rob Mc-
Kenna posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the state’s highest law enforcement award, to Fairbanks at a May 8 ceremony in Olympia.
In November 2008, Benedict awarded Clallam Citizen Commendations to five Longhouse Market & Deli employees who recognized Roe from a wanted poster and called 9-1-1: cashiers Libby Sweetser and David Anderson; security guards Glenn Davidson and Allan Napiontek; and crew supervisor Michael Swisher.
The San Luis Obispo Tribune contributed to this report.
Reach Brian Gawley at bgawley@sequimgazette.com.
