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  3. Compassionate kindness to Marysville Pilchuck

Compassionate kindness to Marysville Pilchuck

Duncan Cooper, 10, will see his drawing “A Rainbow in Ireland” published in the October issue of the children’s magazine Highlights for Children. Cooper is in fifth grade at Cataldo Catholic School and the son of Noah and Terese Cooper.
Duncan Cooper, 10, will see his drawing “A Rainbow in Ireland” published in the October issue of the children’s magazine Highlights for Children. Cooper is in fifth grade at Cataldo Catholic School and the son of Noah and Terese Cooper.

Sometimes in the middle of horrific tragedy, like Friday’s shooting at Marysville, kindness offers hope.

The Oak Harbor football team was slated to play Marysville Pilchuck Friday night in a championship game. But all school activities were cancelled.

In the evening, as the Marysville football players met to share their grief and shock, they saw a group of Oak Harbor players walk in, dressed in their purple jerseys. They came to offer presence and reassurance and kindness. They offered to forfeit the game–giving Marysville Pilchuck the league title and the No. 1 seed for next week's Wesco 3A crossover games.

The Oak Harbor gesture is an object lesson in a grief observed: show up, offer to make the path ahead a bit easier. Stay close.

(S-R archives: Drawing by Duncan Cooper)

Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.