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Generations unite to honor unsung Northshore veterans with memorial

A memorial is being planned to honor Northshore School District veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

It was the summer of 1964. The Vietnam War was raging.

Parl Guthrie and four classmates who had just graduated from Bothell High School did their duty and enlisted, but only three of them made it home.

It's a burden that weighs heavily to this day.

"We got to live out full lives and enjoy family, and kids, and grandkids," said Guthrie. "They didn't."

Richard Worthington and Chuck Slusser both died in Vietnam.

Except for their families, their service has mostly been forgotten in their Northshore community. Unlike many communities, there is no memorial in the Northshore School District honoring those who died during wartime.

"It's kind of like out of sight, out of mind," said Guthrie. "We need to change that."

Jim Morrison is another Vietnam veteran from the Bothell High class of 1964. Chuck Slusser was one of his best friends. Morrison played in the marching band with him at Kenmore's Pop Keeney Stadium.

When Slusser died, Morrison made a commitment never to forget.

"When you know just one, or you're related to just one, you understand the feeling," said Morrison. "It's something you live with the rest of your life."

Bryan Myrick is living with it.

His brother Patrick died during a training exercise supporting the war on terror in 2004. Patrick was a 1991 graduate of Inglemoor High School and studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Washington.

Patrick was just 31 years old and left behind a wife and newborn baby.

"There is nothing that prepares you for that shock," said Byran. "It was hard for me to believe there was nothing here in our district to honor our veterans."

Guthrie and Morrison spearheaded a campaign two years ago to right that wrong. They approached the Northshore School District about a permanent memorial outside Pop Keeney Stadium, where all four Northshore high schools now play football.

"This is a place where tens of thousands of today's students will walk by and know that their alumni gave their lives for this country," said Guthrie.

But first, there's the little matter of raising $25,000 to build and maintain the memorial. Enter Cami Brix, Inglemoor High School senior and co-editor of her school paper.

Brix comes from a family with a military background. She wrote a story in the paper about the situation and helped raise thousands for the cause. Brix says she did it to remind the Class of 2019 that Veterans Day is much more than just a day off of school.

Just ask members of the Classes of '64 and '91.

"We have assemblies and things, but these are actual people in our community who have served and given their lives for our freedom," she says. "They went to schools just like mine."

The names Patrick Myrick, Chuck Slusser, and Richard Worthington will hopefully soon be etched alongside 13 other Northshore students who gave their lives in action or active duty.

An anonymous donor recently offered to match $5,000 in contributions. Organizers say they can reach their goal with the community's help. They hope to unveil it next Memorial Day.

"There's more to this than just remembering those people," says Myrick. "There's the community and what it represents to the families. It reminds us the sacrifice isn't just ours. There is some recognition that the community lost these people as well."

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