School Headmaster Vows Inquiry at Memorial Service for 9 Climbers

The headmaster of Oregon Episcopal School vowed at a memorial service Thursday to oversee a “courageous and thorough” examination of events that led to the deaths of nine climbers on Mt. Hood.

“I do not choose to assign blame, except to myself in the darkest hours,” the Rev. Malcolm Manson told more than 1,600 mourners at a public memorial service.

“Two fathers (of victims) have come to me offering forgiveness and compassion, and I ask that of you all,” he said.

Trapped by Blizzard

Classes were canceled so that the school’s 600 students and 100 staff members could attend the remembrance for the victims of the ill-fated school-sponsored day hike that began May 12. The climbers were trapped by a sudden blizzard.

Private funerals were held earlier for the nine victims, who included two faculty members and seven students.

One of two 16-year-old students who survived the ordeal, Brinton Clark of Portland, watched a live television broadcast of the service from her hospital bed. Clark and fellow survivor Giles Thompson of Longview, Wash., continued to show improvement Thursday.

“We are at a beginning, just as much as we are at an end,” Manson said. “First of all, we must courageously and thoroughly look at what has happened.”

Program to Continue

Manson did not say whether the school’s “Basecamp” program would continue to require a spring hike on the 11,235-foot peak by sophomore students. He said the curriculum, designed to teach students self-reliance and an appreciation of nature, will continue in some form, but suggested it might be modified.

“We owe it to those who died and to future generations of OES students to ask the questions and answer them, as far as they can be found,” Manson said. “We must decide how the program, in whatever qualified form, will continue.”

The public service drew an overflow crowd at Trinity Episcopal Church and was televised so “the world could share in our grief,” school spokeswoman Mariann Koop said.

The White House contacted the school this week, Koop said, and President Reagan plans to send letters of condolence to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery for the two students who survived.