Nancy

Nancy Van Etten did everything right. She had her seatbelt on, she had airbags in her car, she was on the right side of the road … Unfortunately, Chris Kephart was driving while fatigued and crossed the center line on highway 26 in Oregon and that was that.

Nancy was forty six.

Her descanso sits on a small hill just outside Sandy, Oregon under the high-tension power lines that run North to South in the area. It’s a small “pop” of white on an otherwise green and (usually) gray background.

The first Google result for her name was her obituary and I was curious so I looked:

She was a great mother, loved to sew, cook, can and enjoyed hiking. She was very involved in 4-H and raised sheep, llama and chickens. Nancy had a very strong faith in God and a great love for her parents.

Survivors include her husband, Bob; daughters, Molly and Kari Van Etten, all of Sandy, Oregon; parents, Jim and Barb Mathiesen; and brother Mike Mathiesen, all of Marysville.

I probably should not have looked. Now I’m sad.