PORT ANGELES — More than 3,000 people gathered at Civic Field today to grieve the loss of U.S. Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks, even as they gave thanks for the gifts she shared.
Fairbanks, 51, who had devoted more than two decades to the forest service, was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 20 at the Dungeness Forks Campground in Olympic National Forest, about six miles south of Sequim.
Authorities believe Shawn Matthew Roe, whose last known residence was Everett, shot both Fairbanks and Sequim area retiree Richard Ziegler; Roe was killed hours later in a shootout with Clallam County sheriff’s deputies in Blyn’s Longhouse Market & Deli parking lot.
Monday’s memorial service was an outpouring of love and sorrow for a woman who worked in forests from Alaska to Texas, and who was beloved in her hometown of Forks.
Fairbanks’ far-reaching community — one that stretches across the West — created the ceremony.
It began and ended with bagpipes, slow salutes from hundreds of law enforcement officers, and songs chosen by Fairbanks’ 15-year-old daughter, Whitney.
The songs reflected her mother’s zest for life and the land: “When I Get Where I’m Going” by Brad Paisley and “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield.
Gov. Chris Gregoire began the spoken tributes.
“She was incredibly brave, working alone in the woods,” Gregoire said.
Fairbanks patrolled 300,000 acres of public lands with only her K-9 partner, Radar, at her side.
Fairbanks was a skilled guardian of the forest, Gregoire said.
She tracked down tree thieves and poachers, and as the Forest Service’s lone K-9 officer in Washington, helped train others who worked with police dogs.
And Fairbanks, who graduated from Sequim High School and learned her reverence for the wilderness from her father, retired Peninsula College forestry professor John Willits, was a fully engaged member of her community, mentoring youngsters in the Happy Tails 4-H Club and teaching Sunday school at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.
“She knew everybody,” Gregoire said, “and they knew her. That is the true definition of a peace officer.”
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A complete report and a full-color section of photos from today’s memorial service appear in Tuesday’s editions of the Peninsula Daily News.
