Tragedy Unites ‘Family’
I was in the Ridpath Barber Shop cutting a customer’s hair when I heard a man’s voice yell real loud. I knew something was wrong. A hotel employee told me: “Two employees have been shot and a man committed suicide.”
Fear rose up inside me, and when I learned one of them was Marie Van Slate, I felt extra bad. I’ve known her well for five years because she came to work early and I eat breakfast at the hotel almost every morning. I sat in her section because she was so friendly. She also parked her car right outside my shop and gave me a couple of bucks to feed her meter. She parked close to the hotel because she was afraid of walking from a parking lot that early in the morning. Such cruel irony that harm would come to her when in a place she felt so safe.
When she went home each day, she’d say: “Thanks for feeding my meter. See you in the morning, Marty.” She always gave me a pleasant smile and a friendly wave.
I’ve never been that close to violence before and we are all feeling more vulnerable. I also knew the man who shot her; I’d cut his hair twice and I often saw him in the restaurant. That morning when I was at breakfast, he was putting $5 bills in individual envelopes and passing them out. I thought it was unusual, but I didn’t say anything. I never would have put this man in a violent category. This incident showed me that we all have to be alert for strange actions on the part of people we see.
But the tragedy will never take away from the good person that Marie was. She was well liked by customers and a good waitress, too. She served you quickly. When several of us got together at breakfast to talk current events, she wasn’t afraid to put in her two cents. I never saw her in a bad mood.
About 250 employees work at the Ridpath and those of us who rent space consider ourselves part of the Ridpath family. The tragedy has drawn us even closer together. We have done a lot of hugging and talking. Marie would have liked to see that spirit of community surface. I know if it had been one of her fellow waitresses, she would have been devastated. But she might have said: “Let’s have a proper period of mourning and then get on with our lives.”
I’m sure that is what she wants in her case. We will all miss her.
MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.