<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Thousands mourn slain Mount Rainier ranger

The Columbian
Published: January 10, 2012, 12:00am
3 Photos
Clark County deputy sheriff Mike Evans plays a trumpet at a memorial service for Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Margaret Anderson Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, in Tacoma, Wash. Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young girls, was shot and killed  Jan. 1, 2012, after setting up a roadblock to stop a vehicle that blew through a checkpoint on the road to the park's visitor center.
Clark County deputy sheriff Mike Evans plays a trumpet at a memorial service for Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Margaret Anderson Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, in Tacoma, Wash. Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young girls, was shot and killed Jan. 1, 2012, after setting up a roadblock to stop a vehicle that blew through a checkpoint on the road to the park's visitor center. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, Pool) Photo Gallery

Several people from Vancouver-based agencies attended Tuesday’s memorial service for Margaret Anderson or were part of the response following the death of the Mount Rainier National Park ranger.

On Tuesday, the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site was represented at the memorial service in Tacoma by Superintendent Tracy Fortmann, maintenance chief Alex Patterson, administrative officer Elaine Huff, curator Tessa Langford and archaeologist Bob Cromwell.

Ranger Aaron Ochoa was released from his duties at Fort Vancouver to serve as an assistant public relations officer in the days leading up to the memorial.

After Anderson’s death Jan.1, Clark County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Duncan Hoss participated in an aerial search for the man who shot her. Hoss was part of the air support unit that used infrared imaging in an attempt to find the gunman on the mountain through his body heat.

Several people from Vancouver-based agencies attended Tuesday's memorial service for Margaret Anderson or were part of the response following the death of the Mount Rainier National Park ranger.

On Tuesday, the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site was represented at the memorial service in Tacoma by Superintendent Tracy Fortmann, maintenance chief Alex Patterson, administrative officer Elaine Huff, curator Tessa Langford and archaeologist Bob Cromwell.

Ranger Aaron Ochoa was released from his duties at Fort Vancouver to serve as an assistant public relations officer in the days leading up to the memorial.

After Anderson's death Jan.1, Clark County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Duncan Hoss participated in an aerial search for the man who shot her. Hoss was part of the air support unit that used infrared imaging in an attempt to find the gunman on the mountain through his body heat.

Greg Shine, ranger and historian at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, spent three days at Mount Rainier National Park as a public information officer, fielding media calls.

Greg Shine, ranger and historian at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, spent three days at Mount Rainier National Park as a public information officer, fielding media calls.

TACOMA — Margaret Anderson became a law enforcement officer with the National Park Service because she wanted to help people, and she put herself in the way of evil on New Year’s Day because of her deep religious faith and love for others, her father told thousands of people Tuesday at her memorial service.

Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young girls, was shot and killed Jan. 1 at Mount Rainier National Park by the driver of a car that blew through a checkpoint.

She had been working at Paradise, a picturesque and popular winter destination at the park, when she was called to help set up a roadblock. Authorities said the runaway driver stopped at the roadblock, got out of his car, shot Anderson and fled on foot into the wilderness.

Searchers later found the body of the man, 24-year-old Iraq war veteran Benjamin Colton Barnes, in a snowy creek. An autopsy showed he died of drowning with hypothermia as a factor.

Anderson “did it without thinking because it needed to be done,” her father, Pastor Paul Kritsch, told top federal officials, fellow rangers, law enforcement officers and other well-wishers who packed an auditorium at Pacific Lutheran University to celebrate Anderson’s life.

“We know that our nation has lost a good and brave ranger,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, reading aloud a letter from President Barack Obama offering Anderson’s family condolence.

National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis, Gov. Chris Gregoire and other officials attended the service. Mount Rainier National Park superintendent Randy King said lives were saved because of actions taken by her and other law enforcement officers.

mobile phone icon
Take the news everywhere you go.
Download The Columbian app:
Download The Columbian app for Android on Google PlayDownload The Columbian app for iOS on the Apple App Store

Speakers told the packed auditorium and listeners in overflow venues that Anderson was meticulous, passionate and detail-oriented. She was a devoted wife and mother whose love of Jesus inspired her to law enforcement, in part to help keep the world from being in chaos, Kritsch said.

As children, she and her two siblings often roamed on the family’s 2-acre wooded property in Westfield, N.J., through its trees and streams, which nurtured her love of nature and the outdoors, her father said.

She joined the National Park Service in 2002 at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. That’s where she met her husband, Eric Anderson, also a park ranger. Margaret Anderson also worked as a law enforcement park ranger at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park in Maryland.

They both transferred to Mount Rainier in 2008. Her husband was on duty elsewhere in the park when she was killed.

The memorial service began with a funeral procession of law enforcement vehicles, ambulances and fire trucks. Later, hundreds of rangers, officers and others saluted, as Anderson’s family and friends followed her flag-draped casket into Olson Auditorium.

Firefighters, rescue workers and law enforcement officers from numerous agencies in Washington and surrounding regions wore dress uniforms. Many had black patches over their shields.

Michael Jacobs, a retired park ranger, drove 700 miles from California to show his support for Anderson’s family, colleagues and the community.

“Ranger Anderson joined to help people and to serve,” said Jacobs, a reserve deputy with the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. “It was extremely tragic.”

Holding back tears, Robert Danno, who was Anderson’s chief ranger at Bryce Canyon, said she would always be his hero.

“In life and in death, rest now Margaret. There’s a special place in heaven for heroes,” he said.

Loading...