PORT ANGELES — The day she died also was 26-year-old Sarah Marie Garcia-Hutto’s wedding day.
Garcia-Hutto of Port Angeles, who was born with a heart defect, died of complications Monday after undergoing open-heart surgery Thursday in Seattle, said her friend Sarah O’Neal, who said she is acting as the contact for the family.
Just before she died in the University of Washington Medical Center, Garcia-Hutto was married to Jon Hutto, who had been her sweetheart for three years, O’Neal said.
A celebration of the life of Garcia-Hutto is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Angels Acres, 308 E. Simmons Road, Port Angeles.
On Tuesday, some 200 candles blazed on Ediz Hook in Port Angeles as mourners remembered the young woman who loved working with children.
At the candlelight vigil, Garcia-Hutto’s friends and family shared stories and a moment of silence and sang “Amazing Grace.”
“She was an amazing person,” O’Neal said.
“She was very involved in the community.”
O’Neal said her friend, who would have turned 27 on May 15, worked with Project Scrubs and at the Peninsula College child care center.
Garcia-Hutto had earned an associate degree from the college and was pursuing a higher degree online, her friend said.
“She always wanted to work with children,” O’Neal said.
Said another friend, Kaitlin Buckmaster: “She was the most inspirational person.
“She was the sweetest angel and had the most beautiful smile.”
O’Neal said that in addition to her husband, Garcia-Hutto is survived by her mother, Kathy Warner of Port Angeles; her father, Andy Garcia of Alhambra, Calif.; brothers Adam Garcia and his wife, Brinnan, of Sierra Vista, Ariz., and Nick Garcia of Alhambra; and a cousin, Violet O’Dell of Sequim.
Tributes to Garcia-Hutto can be written at www.sarahmarie.memory-of.com.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Harper-Ridgeview Funeral Chapel in Port Angeles.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
