Town Mourns 4 Slide Victims

A mother and her three young daughters who were killed in the La Conchita mudslide were remembered in Ventura on Sunday with Native American blessings, quiet tributes and an outpouring of sorrow from friends and family.

But they were also remembered with beer and food, as well as exuberant music from Hawaiian singers, bluegrass pickers and an African American church choir.

Friends said it was a fitting way to celebrate the lives of Mechelle Wallet, 37, and her daughters Hannah, 10, Raven, 6, and Paloma, 2 -- members of a freewheeling family that spread cheer around the seaside town before the hillside collapsed Jan. 10, burying houses and neighbors and dreams.

“Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, yeah, I celebrate life every day,’ ” said Vera Long, 29, the Wallets’ former neighbor. “But they really did.”

La Conchita residents had grown familiar with the sight of the three girls scampering down to the ocean with their dreadlocked father, Jimmie, toting his acoustic guitar. Mourners said Mechelle was known for serving bread and vegetarian chili in the communal, 1960s-style home where the family had been living.

Sunday’s tribute to the Wallets began with a quiet memorial service in a courtyard surrounded by Tibetan flags. Jimmie Wallet sat in the front row, his dreadlocks tucked into a knit cap. His surviving daughter, Jasmine, 16, sat beside him. Nearby, pictures of Mechelle and the younger girls had been placed on tables strewn with flower petals.

The girls’ friends had fashioned rosemary garlands for the wrists of the mourners. Mechelle’s friends built a “prayer shield” of wood and yarn, and attached mementos and keepsakes.

Each attendee was asked to describe the family with a single word. Among those offered were “loving,” “open,” “kind” and “barefoot.”

In the afternoon, more friends gathered for a reception at a nearby Elks Lodge. Some wore dark suits, but many others -- surfers, bikers and dedicated beach people -- wore black sneakers or T-shirts. They packed the building as if it were a nightclub and spilled out into the frontyard. But the crowd was mostly doleful and still, even when hearing the joyful sounds of the Evangelistic Missionary Baptist Choir from Port Hueneme.

The Wallets were among 10 La Conchita residents killed in the slide. Another was Charlie Womack, a good friend of Jimmie’s who had let the family live in a house that was more like a commune. Friends said the Wallets had been going through tough financial times. Long said Womack employed Jimmie in his contracting business and moved into a tepee to give the Wallets room in his house.

Jimmie Wallet had gone to La Conchita’s only store to buy ice cream for the girls when the side of the mountain, saturated from days of heavy rain, slid toward the town and crushed Womack’s house.

The slide left a large part of the community uninhabitable. A number of residents are still living with relatives or friends up and down the Central Coast, unsure if they will be able to move back. One speaker at the reception suggested that Sunday was a day for survivors and their friends to gather and heal.

“The tragedy has been overwhelming. The response was overwhelming. The emotion was overwhelming,” the man said. “Friends are sometimes closer than family -- and so this day is for you.”

Pictures of the Wallet girls and their mother filled the corners of the lodge. Strung across the ceiling were crayon drawings and watercolors, some done by the girls’ young friends. A few paintings depicted colorful sunsets over the Pacific Ocean.

In an adjacent room, a computer slide show displayed pictures from family albums, accompanied by the song “Over the Rainbow” and music of the Carpenters.

Between musical performances, friends gave tearful and impromptu remembrances. One recalled the days when Jimmie was courting Mechelle in high school. On one occasion, the man said, Jimmie rode to meet his future wife on his bicycle, picking flowers from neighbors’ gardens on the way.

Longtime family friend Chang Liampetchakul showed up at the reception in a guayabera and skate shoes. He hugged some friends, then settled against a wall to watch a troupe of barefoot luau dancers.

“When you lose people like this, it makes everybody realize what we have,” he said. “I hope this will make people connect even more.”

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Times photographer Spencer Weiner contributed to this report.