SEATTLE -- A mother is supposed to celebrate her her son's birthdays and anniversaries. But on Monday, Kim Kime Parks marked an anniversary no mother should have to remember.
Her son, Kris Kime, died 10 years ago Monday night. He was beaten while trying to help a stranger during the Mardi Gras riots in Pioneer Square early that morning, and was pronounced dead at 7:23 p.m. on February 28, 2001.
"It's a difficult day," Kime Parks said Monday while visiting her son's grave in Tukwila. "It has been 10 years, but it seems like just a few weeks ago."
With her son Keith by her side, Kime Parks struggled to hold back tears.
"It's just so hard," she said while resting her head in Keith's arms. "I try so hard to be strong but sometimes, I just can't."
The family finds strength in honoring Kris' legacy. A group gathered in Pioneer Square Monday night, in front of the plaque that pays tribute to Kris. They were joined by childhood friends and Larry Levinson, the man who received Kris' donated heart.
"I've been close to death four times since the transplant and that heart pulled me through every time," Levinson told Kris' family.
"He's got the best heart in the world," Kris' mom said.
"I sure do," Levinson replied.
With candles flickering over the plaque, some relatives performed Kris' favorite song.
"I know someone you don't know! Yogi! Yogi!" they sang.
The time was 7:23 p.m. -- exactly 10 years after Kris died.
A few minutes later, Kris' aunt recalled holding her nephew's hand at the hospital moments before he died.
"I really thought he was waking up," she said.
But he was not waking up. It was the Nisqually earthquake, one of the largest quake's in Washington state history.
"I know to this this, when they talk about the Nisqually earthquake, because all of the damage was down here in Pioneer Square, that was Kristopher saying his last goodbye," she said with tears in her eyes. "I wanted him to wake up and he didn't wake up."
Ten years later, Kris' family is still grieving. But rather than remember his death, on Monday night they choose to celebrate his life.
"Everybody here loved Kris," Kim Kime Parks told the group. "Even those who didn't even know him."
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