One Year Later, Crash Victims’ Families Gather at Sea

Eight miles out at sea, those who came to mourn the victims of Flight 261 paid tribute in their own ways.

At the spot where the Alaska Airlines jet plunged into the ocean last Jan. 31, a wreath of red roses bobbed. Boats piloted by volunteers slowly circled, as friends and family members of the 88 victims--83 passengers and five crew members--recalled their loved ones.

Some hugged, and some prayed alone. Others dangled their feet over the sides of the boats and turned their faces toward the sun before tossing carnations into the water.

Throughout Tuesday morning, the boats cruised between Oxnard’s Channel Islands Harbor and the site at sea--the first event in two days of observances marking the crash’s first anniversary. A burial service was held Tuesday afternoon at a Westlake Village cemetery, and the dedication of a memorial stone was planned for today.

For many relatives, the events have been the most public expression yet of the grief that penetrated their lives a year ago today. More than 850 people have come to Ventura County for the anniversary, which was organized by a group of family members and paid for by the airline.

Some relatives flew from as far as the Philippines for the observances. A pregnant woman had her labor induced so she could attend with her newborn baby, according to one organizer.

Earlene Shaw, of Olympia, Wash., had been in Ventura County for two weeks, taking long, contemplative walks on the beach. Twelve months ago, her husband Donald was returning on Flight 261 from Puerto Vallarta, where he was looking at a condominium the couple planned to buy for their retirement.

Glimpsing the crash site makes it “feel like you can get a little bit closer,” said Shaw, holding back tears. She was joined for the ceremonies by 21 relatives.

Paige Stockley, a Seattle cellist whose parents, Margaret and Tom Stockley, died in the crash, said, “We’ve had so many tributes, private memorials and amazing moments with friends. But this is something so huge, and most of the families want to be here. I can’t explain it--it’s like homing pigeons. . . .”

Last summer, Stockley, whose father was a wine columnist for the Seattle Times, began planning this week’s observances. At the dock where her parents moored their houseboat, Stockley and relatives of about 50 other crash victims sketched out plans, not just for the ceremonies, but for a permanent memorial that will be near the Port Hueneme pier.

On Tuesday, Stockley and several families toured the partially reconstructed wreckage of Flight 261 in a hangar at Point Mugu. “It was pretty shocking,” she said. “The airplane was in a million pieces. A lot of Kleenex were going around.”

Stockley said a National Transportation Safety Board investigator told family members at the hangar that the agency was committed to pinpointing the cause of the jetliner’s abrupt 18,000-foot plunge on its trip from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco and then to Seattle.

A lawsuit against the airline and the plane’s manufacturer on behalf of 55 families incorporates claims of negligence. The first hearings related to the suit are set for March.

During a somber cruise to the crash site, near Anacapa Island, some of the 60 family members clutched teddy bears that had been given to them by Red Cross volunteers and Ventura County emergency personnel.

“At first they looked puzzled,” said Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells. “But I told them it was just something to hold onto, and they understood.”

In the afternoon, California Highway Patrol officers escorted about two dozen busloads of mourners to a private service at the Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Cemetery in Westlake Village.

Remains still unidentified--three victims are unaccounted for--were interred there beneath a stone inscribed: “To the spirits of the 88 lost. We celebrate their lives and remember them with love.”

Terry Sparks of Seattle, who lost his 20-year-old son, Ryan, wept.

“There’s some of all of us in there,” he said before the service.

Five clergymen, representing Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, spoke at the memorial.

The mourners’ day was to end with a dinner and performances by the Southern California Mormon Tabernacle Choir and operatic performer Kimball Wheeler, who sang a piece from Gustav Mahler’s “Songs on the Deaths of Children.”

“Being a mother myself, it’s always a bittersweet experience to sing these songs,” she said.

Today, a memorial stone will be dedicated and a private service held on the naval base at Point Mugu, where the initial efforts to search for survivors and retrieve wreckage were coordinated. In addition, photographs and mementos of the crash victims will be available for viewing by the public at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

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Times staff writers Tina Dirmann, Tim Hughes, Matt Surman and Margaret Talev, and correspondent Jenifer Ragland contributed to this story.