NEWS | Country Store expands its services. [4] COMMENTARY | Eating locally makes sense. [7] COMMUNITY | Forum on dementia meets next week. [5]
‘DON GIOVANNI’ Vashon Opera performs the Mozart classic. Page 12
A NIGHT FOR ART Spend Friday evening at the island’s galleries. Page 10
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, September 3, 2014
Vashon dogs help artist forge a path By SUSAN MCCABE For The Beachcomber
Known best for her greeting card photos of Vashon dogs in cars, Rondi Lightmark is a consummate artist who has applied creativity to every aspect of her life. “I’ve never been trained to do anything before I did it,” Lightmark said. “I just do it, then try to figure out how. Inspiration always provides me the juice to do something new.” Her journey started 20 years ago when she lost her husband to cancer and used the experience to launch herself on a creative journey that ultimately led her to Vashon Island. Despite her whimsical name, Lightmark appears to take nothing lightly, using her life as a resource for learning. Inspiration has been her driver. “Not only was life, like Jim (her husband) whimsical, deep and miraculous,” she said, “it was giving me a huge tutorial.” After caring for her terminally ill husband, then her mother and two friends over a 10-year period, Lightmark earned a master’s degree in psychology so she could counsel others through the grieving process she herself was living. In that process, Lightmark said, she developed a different
Vol. 59, No. 36 www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Saying goodbye to a beloved islander By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Hopes that a missing island woman would return safely ended abruptly last week with news of her death, and islanders are now preparing to honor her life and fill the many holes her absence has left in the fabric of this community. The body of Kirsten Proffit, who would have turned 45 later this month, was found by a park ranger at Twin Harbors State Park last Thursday evening. She is believed to have ended her life that same day, three days after being reported missing by her husband, Spencer Proffit. The couple, who were in the process of divorcing, were married for 20 years and have two children, Henry, age 12, and Oliver, 9. Her boys were the light of her life, friends and family say. Spencer reported Kirsten missing Tuesday morning last week, after she had not returned to pick up the boys the previous evening. Authorities believed that Kirsten left voluntarily and said that legally they could not conduct a search because of her right to privacy. Friends and family stepped in, however, and searched for her on Vashon, made a Facebook page about her disappearance, distributed a “missing” poster and placed several calls to state parks and campgrounds when they learned she might have been camping. After the news of her death began circulating last Friday, people were encouraged to light candles in her honor, and a Facebook page was made for people to post photos of burning candles. Daniel Luechtefeld, who led a Cub Scout troop with Kirsten, was among those who posted a tribute to her, noting that she had helped him through a dark time. “Kirsten was the candle,” he wrote. Indeed, in talking to family and friends and reading the many words of remembrance in a Facebook page Spencer made for their children, Kirsten appears to have been a candle for countless people and to have served as Vashon’s own goodwill ambassador.
Em Parker Photography
Kirsten Proffit in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. SEE LIGHTMARK, 13
SEE KIRSTEN, 19
Longstanding restaurant, Sound Food, closes its doors once again By SARAH LOW Staff Writer
The Sound Food building once again sits empty, as both businesses that had been running there have closed because of a vandalism incident that occurred in early August. “It’s devastating,” Rachael Gordon, owner and chef of Rachael’s at Sound Food said. “Things were going so well, I would love nothing more than to be able to continue there.” What Gordon at first thought was a break in occurred sometime after she closed on Aug. 6. When she arrived to open for the morning on Aug. 7, she discovered that her sign had been damaged, found broken dishes in the sink, missing dry goods and the refrigerator she was using for her side of the restaurant was blowing hot air so that everything in it was no longer useable. In all, she sustained $6,000 in losses.
She reported the incident to the sheriffs as well as the owner of the Sound Food building, Jeff Cunningham. Gordon said that the sheriffs who came to take her report told her that they could not find any evidence of a break in, suggesting that the damage could have been done by someone who had access to the building. King County Sheriff Department spokeswoman DB Gates told The Beachcomber that there would not be an investigation into the incident. “If there had been any evidence pointing us in someone’s direction, we’d investigate. But there wasn’t anything we could go on that suggested a suspect.” Without any answers, being fearful about remaining in the space and having a significant financial loss to contend with, Gordon decided she could not continue to operate her breakfast and lunch restaurant at Sound Food, and she
reached an agreement with Cunningham to terminate her lease. Unsure of what she will do now, Gordon is still catering and trying to decide where to go from here. She was approached by Chris Lueck of Express Cuisine, but is hesitant to move into a space on her own. “The shared space in the Sound Food building kept costs down and its location south of town is what made that work so well,” Gordon said. “I don’t think being in town would result in the same kind of success.” The other tenant of the Sound Food building, Brandon D’Imperio, has also shut-down his weekend dinner services until further notice, though he remains under a lease contract with Cunningham. D’Imperio says he is considering starting pop-up dinners at his farm.