Margaret Anderson wrote in her 1995 high school yearbook that “each season allows for growth and wonderful experiences. Memories remain, each new one being dear.”

The memories now belong to her family, friends and colleagues in the National Park Service.

Anderson was shot to death on the road to Paradise on the first day of the new year while setting up a roadblock to stop a man who blew past a tire-chain checkpoint.

The 34-year-old Eatonville woman was the daughter of a Lutheran minister, and her family attended Bethany Lutheran Church in Spanaway. On Monday evening, the Rev. Galen Gallimore and members of the congregation gathered for a prayer vigil for the slain park ranger.

Anderson and her husband, fellow ranger Eric Anderson, had been attending Bethany Lutheran regularly for about two years, Gallimore said. The oldest Anderson girl, Anna, 3, had attended vacation Bible school over the summer, and her little sister, Katie, 1, was a regular in the church nursery.

“She (Margaret) did connect with a few of the families here because of the connection with the mountain,” Gallimore said, noting that a handful of Bethany Lutheran families are Park Service employees or former employees.

Nancy Woodward is one of them. She works in human resources for the park service.

“I saw Eric and Margaret here at worship,” she said Monday. “They were a wonderful family. Very loving toward their girls. Margaret was a devoted mom.”

Like other park employees, Woodward said Anderson was known for her positive outlook at work.

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