Sunday, Aug. 19, saw Seattle pause and pay its respects to longtime KOMO-TV news anchor Kathi Goertzen, who died Monday, Aug. 13, after a 14-year-long battle with benign, but recurring, brain tumors.
The service, held at Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center at 1 p.m., provided inside seating for family, friends and co-workers, while audio was broadcast to dozens of people gathered outside on the lawn. The service was also streamed at KOMONEWS.com.
Few deaths in recent memory have affected the city so profoundly.
Immediately after Ms. Goertzen’s death, flower bouquets started appearing at KOMO headquarters at Fisher Plaza as the Northwest news media paid tribute, citing her courage, integrity and community service.
As the city mourned, Magnolia mourned one of its own.
The sentiments of Alex Smith of LeRoux Fine Apparel reflected the conversations going on in the rest of the community.
“She was wonderful,” Smith said last week. “She was always about how you were, too. People get in awe of people on TV. We treated her as a Magnolian first. She was very down to earth. I think the way she dealt with the ongoing challenge was a lesson to all of us. As we age, we can learn from that.”
And, Smith added, “All Magnolia is grieving.”
Darrell Drew of Carnolia Cleaners in the Village, who has run the Summerfest Seafair and Kids parade for decades, knew Goertzen as well, and not just because she served as Grand Marshall in the 2011 parade.
“We had meaningful conversations about life and death,” Drew recalled.
Drew draws from a backlog of memories on that front. Due to chronic alcoholism, Drew said he was wheel chair bound in 1986 and couldn’t walk for nine months. He was told he would never walk again.
Drew recovered.
“She inspired me to appreciate every hour of the day,” he said.
Goertzen married Rick Jewett, a KOMO-TV account executive, in 1993. She has two daughters, Alexa and Andrea.
The Kathi Goertzen Foundation, created to further brain tumor research, is at www.kathigoertzen.com
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