GSL Slip Renters and Marina Users.
Most of you know Diana Wier and Cory from “Pack A Lunch” on ‘K’ dock.
Diana’s other daughter, Julie, was tragically killed in a car wreck on February 24th in Kearney, Nebraska. She was en route to SLC and Yosemite after graduating from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia. Julie was 39 years old. Below is the text from Diana’s email:
Hello again to all our and Julie's friends and family. We've added more names to this e-mail list in response to the outpouring of love. We would like to return that love to all of you, because we know you miss Julie also. We hope to respond to all of you individually at a later date, but this is what we can manage at this time.
Julie's memorial service will be on Sunday the 13th, starting promptly at high noon, at Red Butte Garden, a beautiful botanical garden at the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains. All are invited to the ceremony that we are planning in conjunction with the Park Service. There will be an opportunity for you to speak at the service, to share any memories of Julie. After the service we are hosting a celebration in Julie's memory at Diana's house; a map will be included with the program at the service. An obituary will be in the Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday the 6th.
Diana, Cory, Scott and John travelled to Nebraska earlier this week to conduct the awful business of last arrangements. Julie's essence was obvious even in death; we stroked her cheek and said a final goodbye to her physical remains. We were escorted by Swiss-Army-Knife Ranger John Madden in Kearney, Nebraska. He made us laugh even through our tears, and expressed the honor the entire Park Service held for Julie. We recovered precious items such as her flat hat, her FLETC diploma and letters of recognition, small keepsakes from the dashboard of her truck, and her collection of hair barrettes.
Scott engraved a plaque on a brick that we nestled into the ground at the far edge of the freeway embankment; next to the brick we placed a spray of purple flowers.
This brick is 1.1 miles east of the Kearney Archway on I-80 eastbound, by the biggest fence post, beneath a large cottonwood tree with a distinctive broken limb on the west side.
The one inspirational aspect of our trip to Kearney was the gathering of the sandhill cranes. These majestic birds stop along the Platte River, in numbers more than half a million strong, to re-fuel before continuing their migration. We like to believe the cranes' clarion call is beckoning Julie's spirit to join them on their northward journey.
Diana, Cory, and Family
JULIE WEIR
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Julie Ann Weir 1971 ~ 2011 Julie Ann Weir died tragically in a motor vehicle collision near Kearney, Nebraska on February 24, 2011. Julie, a National Park Ranger, was en-route from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia to a new position at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Alaska, scheduled to start at the end of her field training in Yosemite National Park. Julie was born Thanksgiving Day, 1971, in Reno, Nevada. She began her Park Service career as a volunteer sled-dog trainer at Denali National Park in 1992. Since then she worked at 11 other national park sites across the country, from Maine to Texas to Alaska. Julie graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) on February 15, 2011 as a Federal Law Enforcement Ranger. Julie attended the University of Utah, was an emergency medical technician, with additional training in search and rescue, a wildland firefighter, and a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do. Julie is preceded in death by her father Gene A. Weir. She will be deeply missed by family members including mother Diana Weir-Goodell, sister Corinna Weir, brother-in-law Scott Olsen, Jerry and Daun Hartrim, Lesley and Vince Carlos, and the Troutwine, Weir, and Mossberg families. Julie has friends throughout the country and the National Park Service who join us in mourning her loss and honoring her memory. Julie lived passionately, and loved hiking and backpacking, canoeing, camping, skiing, traveling, beading, spinning, knitting, and quilting. We are comforted by our shared activities, preserved in hundreds of photographs, and will always treasure the gifts she made for us. A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday March 13th at Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City. Seating will begin at 11:30 a.m, and the service will start promptly at noon. Parking is limited; car-pooling is suggested. A memorial fund has been established for Ranger Julie Weir at Red Butte Garden to plant a tree in remembrance. Donations to the Kearney, Nebraska, Volunteer Fire Department would also honor Julie's legacy.
Published in Salt Lake Tribune on March 6, 2011
Dave Shearer
Harbormaster
Great Salt Lake State Marina
801-209-9142