Miners' Car

A few years ago, I found out that a woman at our church has a sister whose boyfriend was killed in the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount Saint Helens. When I visited the volcano in August, 2008 (see previous entries) I found the person's name, Richard A. Parker, on the memorial, along with those of his aunt Natalie and uncle Donald. When I got back I tried doing a little web searching to find out how they died. Apparently the aunt and uncle had a cabin and mine (gold, I think) near Meta Lake. Richard was caught outside by the blast and thrown. I have never been to the actual lake before in my many visits, but I have been very close. It turns out that the Miners Car (a car blown around by the blast and left as a memorial) belonged to the aunt and uncle. I have included a picture of the car from a book and one that I shot in August, 2007. I relayed these pictures to my church contact; she passed them to her sister, who told her that she remembers riding in that car. I was also told that the couple knew there was a risk but chose to ignore it. Anyway, I thought this was sort of one of those small world kind of things, and helps add color and context to an event that I have an interest in.