I still haven’t quite gotten the time or energy to do a write up on Seattle to Portland, but it will happen soon.
It has been a whirlwind of a week for sure. Jane and I have been just trying to keep busy.

Last night was a candlelight memorial for Teresa put on by our friend and old neighbor Beth. My mom came up from Portland in order to attend. A few of our friends joined us for the evening. I made some dinner (maybe a little comfort style with all of the butter…) and we set out behind our house to the front of the community center.

Somewhere between 2 and 3 hundred people showed up including all of the usual media suspects. It was a beautiful and eclectic bunch of people from all walks of life. It was a pretty amazing show of support for someone that seems to have touched so many lives.

There was a podium set up for people to say a few words about Teresa. It frightened the hell out of me. I knew that Jane would get up and say something so I decided to go with her. We were lucky enough to have some great memories of our smiling neighbor.

We had been living in our house for a little bit over a year when the couple that lived next door decided to move back to Eugene. They were a quiet couple so we were a little nervous to see who would be filling that void.

Our Realtor just happened to be involved in the sale of the house so we had an inside line on exactly when it was sold. The day after Teresa signed papers on the house, a wind storm hit the city. It blew over a large tree from her front yard and crushed both of our fences, took out our cable (which never was or is in use anyways), and damaged our gutter.

Our neighbor Mark across the street were pounding on our door the next morning before the sun rose. I woke up confused when I opened the door to branches. It felt like a dream.

“Didn’t you hear the tree fall?”, he asked me.
“…no.”

All of our neighbors chipped in on the clean up.

A few days later Teresa came to our door with a bottle of Makers Mark and a thank you note. I’m not sure how the hell someone I’ve never met knew one of my favorite whiskeys, but I don’t question these things. She was just a special person like that.

When we got up to speak about her, I noted that one of the reasons I always talk up how amazing South Park is as a community is because of people like Teresa. Our block has a gaping void in it now. I’m not sure how that will ever be filled properly.

R.I.P – Teresa Butz

Seattle Times article -Seattle PI photos – Seattle PI article