Family, friends mourn loss at vigil
More than 300 friends and family members gathered in Gonzaga University’s Student Chapel on Monday for a 9 p.m. vigil in honor of Brian Brett and Pete Tripp, two students killed in an avalanche in Idaho over the weekend.
Brett’s roommate, Jon Barber, had the Rev. Rick Ganz play a song by Bob Dylan, “Forever Young,” for the Bellingham man, who had a collection of more than 50 Dylan CDs.
As Dylan’s voice droned his famous song, many of the students’ friends pressed tear-stained faces into their hands. Afterwards, friends hugged, shared stories and spoke with Sean Forbes, who survived the snowslide that killed Brett, 24, and Tripp, 22.
Cameron Alford, Brett’s roommate, said he had been invited to go along on the trip but declined because he didn’t have a locator beacon.
“I’m not sure this would be bearable if Sean were not alive,” Alford said. “For everything he has gone through physically and mentally, he’s in pretty good shape. It’s something very positive. We can focus our attentions on that.”
Tripp’s roommate, Brian Nolte, grew up with Tripp in Bend, Ore.
“Peter was an amazing person,” said Nolte. “He didn’t have an unkind bone in his body.”
Instead of joining Tripp, Brett and Forbes near Mullan, Idaho, Alford said he went snowshoeing near Tum Tum. He said he got word that Forbes had called Sunday night and said, “It was a serious situation involving an avalanche.”
Alford and three other people drove to Wallace to stay the night with Forbes. “He did not know at that point what Brian’s fate was. He could not find Brian,” Alford said of Forbes.
At 4 a.m. Monday, roommate Tom Malamakal called with the news from Brett’s family that he had been found dead.
The avalanche ended a friendship that started with a conversation on a chairlift at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, Alford said.
“I probably learned more from Brian than anybody in my life,” Alford said. “What this does is just encourages me to learn even more from his life. I’m going to reflect on everything he has taught me. Brian was very alive, in every aspect. He really engaged life.”
Tripp’s parents also attended the vigil, which reflected the sense of mourning felt across the GU campus.
“My first response was responding as a father of three children,” said Raymond Reyes, Gonzaga’s vice president for diversity who spoke at Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Day at River Park Square. “It’s a tragedy to the GU community. It’s devastating.”
GU philosophy professor Ted DiMaria never imagined the most recent voice-mail message left in his office by Tripp would be the last.
But when DiMaria, an adviser at GU, heard that Tripp and Brett had been killed in an avalanche south of Mullan, DiMaria’s first reaction was to listen to the messages left by Tripp one week ago. He felt that hearing Tripp’s voice again gave him a small sense of comfort.
“He (Tripp) came in a couple days later, he was telling me about his plans for the semester and asking about financial aid for the upcoming semester,” said DiMaria, adviser to Tripp, a first-year philosophy graduate student and Brett, a senior in the philosophy program.
“I was completely shocked to hear the news,” DiMaria said. “It stuck me as so tragic that two such young people with so much life and vitality had their lives cut so short.”
Ganz is preparing a memorial service to be held later this week.
“At least we know this: Brian, Peter and Sean are friends forever,” Ganz said. “They were together and will always be through the love they have for each other.”