BRINNON — Stanley L. Fickett of Brinnon, a retired logger, died in a rollover car crash Wednesday south of Shelton.
He was 53.
“He was a wonderful man,” his widow, Mary Fickett, said Wednesday at the Brinnon home they shared for the last two years. “He would stop on the side of the road and help anybody, and always put a smile on everyone’s face.”
Mr. Fickett was driving his 1999 Nissan pickup truck southbound on U.S. Highway 101 at State Route 3 in Mason County at 12:27 p.m. when the vehicle hit the median and rolled over, the State Patrol said. He died at the scene.
A second vehicle, a 2004 Honda Accord driven by Ruth Ikerd, 70, of Winlock, was struck by flying debris.
Ikerd was not hurt. Her car suffered some damage, but was driven from the scene, the State Patrol said. The State Patrol continued to investigate the cause of the crash Wednesday.
Mr. Fickett, who was retired after working 22 years for a forest products company in the Longview-Kelso area, had outlived medical predictions, his widow said.
“He was given 3 to 5 years to live, nine years ago,” Mary Fickett said.
He was disabled on the job 10 years ago in a logging accident, his widow said, and was in the hospital much of the summer with a spinal infection, the result of his injuries.
He was an avid hunter and fisherman, who made spheres out of rocks for a hobby, and was close to his golden labrador, Winchester.
Mary Fickett said he had an impressive collection of deer and elk antlers that were displayed on the front of their Jaybird Lane home, one that people would stop to photograph.
Mary Fickett said her husband, who she married in December 1983, was en route to visit his father and two daughters in Longview at the time of the crash.
“I loved him with all my heart,” she said. “We feel very blessed to have had him in our lives.”
Mr. Fickett was born in Longview on July 18, 1956.
He is survived by his wife and two daughters, Jennifer Kurilow and Jessica Fickett of Longview-Kelso; parents Miller and Beulah Fickett of Toutle; sister, Lorraine Sebastian of Castle Rock; and granddaughter, Tatum Kurilow.
Services were pending Wednesday.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
