Special music for Mom
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
Print This |
Email This
Recent Headlines
To our readers . . . about the Aspire! Quartet’s Singing Valentine program -- 2/10/12 -01:53 PM
Floating luxury home hits the water, now moored at Point Hudson [**Video**] -- 2/10/12 -01:03 PM
Mountain goat population up about 40 percent in Olympic Mountains -- 2/10/12 -12:07 PM
417.9 million bites later . . . (does this video warrant that much attention?) -- 2/10/12 -12:02 PM
Josh Powell had ‘incestuous’ sex images, investigators say -- 2/10/12 -09:32 AM
They reflected her mother's zest for life and the land: "When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley and "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield.
The music was part of a stirring ceremony that blended a short, to-the-point address by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire with Whitney's popular songs, two national anthems and a series of stately processions across the green grass of Civic Field.
At times during the nearly two-and-a-half-hour service, the crowd that had filled the stadium went silent.
A procession of 100 K-9 handlers marched in, German shepherds and Labrador retrievers at their sides.
A black, riderless horse was led onto the field to symbolize the fallen officer. Then a cadre of uniformed officers escorted Fairbanks' husband Brian, along with Whitney and their extended family, slowly to the front of the field.
The throng stayed quiet, quiet.
Then came the cry of bagpipes, and the songs signifying Fairbanks' fellowship with law enforcement officers in two nations. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was followed by "O Canada."
Gregoire's tribute
Gov. Gregoire began the spoken tributes.
"On behalf of all of the people of the state of Washington," she said to Fairbanks' family, "please accept my sorrow for your terrible loss."
The governor had learned, from Fairbanks' friends and colleagues, that "she was incredibly brave, working alone in the woods . . . a skilled guardian" of Olympic National Forest.
Fairbanks had patrolled 300,000 acres of public lands with only her K-9 partner, Radar, at her side.
Fairbanks and Radar tracked down tree thieves and poachers, and as the state's lone Forest Service K-9 team, they helped train other handlers and dogs.
And Fairbanks, who graduated from Sequim High School and learned her reverence for the wilderness from her father, John Willits of Port Angeles, who is a former Peninsula College forestry professor, was a fully engaged member of her community.
"She was incredibly compassionate," Gregoire said.
Fairbanks taught the members of the Happy Tails 4-H Club how to work with dogs; she befriended two Forks girls when they were going through a tough time, buying them clothes and helping them obtain laptop computers.
"Most important, she was a mentor, a second mom," the governor said.
Gregoire learned too that "she knew everybody, and they knew her. That is the true definition of a peace officer."
Toward the close of the service, the Rev. Pamela Hunter, pastor of the Prince of Peace church, rose to recite Psalm 23, and many in the crowd joined her.
Then, as the thousands of mourners watched, Gregoire presented the American flag to Whitney and her family.
The U.S. Border Patrol Pipe & Drum Corps performed "Amazing Grace," and the State Patrol stood north of the stage to execute a 21-gun salute.
Silence fell over the field again, and finally, a crimson U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flew in a slow loop across the sky.
Last modified: September 29. 2008 9:00PM