PORT TOWNSEND — Horns blaring, a convoy of about 100 log trucks paraded Saturday afternoon from Chimacum to a memorial service at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, where 700 mourned a Quilcene couple described as icons in the timber industry.
Patrick Yarr, 60, and Janice Kay Yarr, 57, were killed in their Quilcene home last month.
A Quilcene man, Michael J. Pierce, 34, has been charged with 11 felonies — including murder — in connection with the deaths and arson of their home.
“I knew Pat since SSRq66,” said Larry Allen, a trucker who organized the procession.
“He was an icon in this industry. Both he and Janice.”
Pat Yarr had worked as a log trucker across the North Olympic Peninsula since the early 1960s, and the family had lived in Forks and Chimacum before settling in Quilcene.
“The timber industry is like a huge community,” Allen said.
“They belonged to us.”
Eastern Washington
Allen said trucks came from as far away as Eastern Washington to be part of the service.
The polished trucks stood sentinel outside the service for the two Jefferson County natives who stood for hard work, family and community involvement.
The Yarrs owned Pat Yarr Logging and Yarr Cattle Co., working their herd on their Boulton Farm Road property in Quilcene.
Janice Yarr also worked as a bookkeeper for Seton Construction of Port Townsend.
They were discovered dead in their home at 780 Boulton Farm Road, off U.S. Highway 101 north of Quilcene, on March 19, a day after a fire had consumed the structure.
More details in Sunday’s editions of the Peninsula Daily News.
