Kylee Brownfield

English 101
Jenna Gernand
14 April 2016
The Mount Baker Avalanche Memorial Review
On the further side of north campus of Western Washington University, right
between Edens Hall and Old Main, sits the Mount Baker Avalanche Memorial for the 6
hikers who lost their lives in July of 1939. In the article for The Bellingham Herald, Dean
Kahn notes that the climbers who lost their lives all had ties to Western Washington
Universitys College of Education as former students, teachers, administrators, or guest
faculty. The climb was a Western tradition (paragraphs 5 and 6). Seeing as the victims
did have some sort of relationship with the university, it makes sense that the school
chose to honor their loss with the memorial on campus.

Above is a picture of Deming Glacier on Mount Baker with details about the avalanche. (The Bellingham
Herald)

The memorial is a short half circle rock wall along with a standing configuration
of rock from Mount Baker itself that holds a plaque. Given that the memorial is over 75
years old, the plaque is very hard to read, unless its presented right in front of your face.
There are old cigarette butts lying around on the ground, trash scattered along the rock
wall and surrounding the plaque as if this is a hangout space to take a quick break or
meet up with friends and then leave. Its apparent that students know this area exists, but
considering the treatment of the area itself, it doesnt seem to be known that this is a
memorial.

Its the middle

memorial
abandoned.

of the day and the

seems empty and
(Google Images)

When people
think of a memorial, one of the many words that come to mind is respect. When visiting a
memorial, we are mourning the loss of a family member, a friend, or even just an
acquaintance, if that. It has become a social norm in todays society to pay our respects to
those who we have lost by acting in such a manner in which they would be thankful for
while visiting their memorial. In New York there is a whole museum, and then some, for
the victims of the Twin Towers incident on September 11, 2001 where people are
constantly paying their respects to the lives lost that day. Visitors walk around in silence,
trying to imagine themselves in the shoes of those who lost their loved ones that day,
mourning the loss of someone they may have never even know. One would think that
considering this incident hits so close to home, you would see the same respect given, but
that is not the case.
After paying close attention to the memorial and how it gets treated on a daily
basis, I would have never guessed it was a place that was supposed to be representing
remembrance and dignity. Not only is it dirty, but I also did not get any sense of
peacefulness as you would at any other memorial. You can hear the voices of students
walking and talking to each other or on the phone, listening to conversation that you
dont really want any part in, making it hard to focus on the memorial itself and why
youre there. This memorial does not have any of the attributes as any other that I have
ever visited and I believe that needs to be changed.
As a freshman at Western, I want to be proud of my school and have pride in
where I live and where I choose to further my education, but the negative vibes and the
lack of respect for these lost lives make it hard to do so. Westerns mission statement
emphasizes their want to improve the life of the community by teaching people to solve
problems and meet the challenges of a complex world but the problem of the treatment
of the memorial is not being addressed (paragraph 3). This memorial is representing the
lives of former members of the Western community and is getting treated so poorly and
there is no sense of problem solving shown. The treatment this memorial gets is almost
embarrassing for the Western community and I feel a little ashamed to be apart of this.
Like I mentioned previously, the 9/11 memorial in New York is tremendously respected.
Granted 9/11 was a nation wide tragedy rather than state wide, a memorial is still a
memorial and should be treated as such, especially within its immediate vicinity. Many
people that visit the memorial in New York dont have a direct connection with the names

they read on the plaques, but these six names written down on this memorial are of those
who experienced Western like we have and have called Bellingham their home, and we
dont even have the decency to clean up this one area that should be respected the most.

The plaque made out of rock from Mt. Baker that lists the names of the six victims who were killed. Trash
is presented on the memorial with no signs of getting cleaned any time soon. (Google images)

In my opinion, this space has the potential to be a sacred place for students, such
as myself, to not only gain knowledge of our universitys past, but to also reflect and have
a peaceful time alone with ones thoughts. Unfortunately, the actions of the Western
community in regard to this memorial are unacceptable. This memorial is not going to see
the respect it deserves unless we ourselves make a conscious choice to treat it with
dignity.

Works Cited
Kahn, Dean. "Sudden Tragedy: 75 Years Ago, a Massive Avalanche on Mount Baker
Killed Six WWU Climbers." Bellinghamherald. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
Western Washington University Role and Mission Statement. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr.
2016.