Jenny and Joel Madrazo cherished the moments whenever they heard their son’s voice over the phone. During those calls back home, Bothell native Lt. Nicholas Aaron Madrazo was stationed in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Three years ago, on Sept. 9, 2008, the 25-year-old was in the mountains of Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, supporting combat operations when his Humvee hit an improvised explosive device. He was killed along with Capt. Jesse Melton, Navy Corpsman Eickmann Strickland and an Afghan interpreter.
I remember when we found out about this in the Reporter office, and reporter Josh Hicks’ hands were slightly shaking while he interviewed Nicholas’ brother, Jared, and neighbor Beth Flansburg over the phone.
“He was a great friend and a great listener who would always make me laugh,” Flansburg told Hicks. “He always had a smile on his face and wanted to make sure people were happy.”
Both Hicks and myself looked at each other following that interview and sighed, thinking about Madrazo’s family and how hard it must be for them to go through this.
Hicks gathered himself, turned toward his computer and wrote his story, probably one of the toughest he’s ever written.
On Sept. 10, the NAMES (Nicholas Aaron Madrazo Endearing Service) Foundation will honor Nicholas’ life and to support the troops, their families and veterans with an all-ages 5K run/walk fund-raiser at Westhill Elementary, 19515 88th Ave. N.E. in Bothell. Check-in and registration for participants start at 7:30 a.m. and the run/walk starts at 8:30 a.m.
Visit www.thenamesfoundation.org for more information about the foundation and to register for the 5K fund-raising event. People’s online registration fee will contribute to purchasing phone cards for soldiers serving in combat zones around the world.
RiverFest: a learning experience
Bothell’s RiverFest features fun and games, food and music.
However, last Sunday kids and adults also received recycling tips from Charlie Keller of King County Solid Waste, learned about animal-control issues from Debra Murdock of the Bothell Police Department and were given tips about bicycle safety and much more from Kirsten Clemens and others from Bothell Fire and EMS.
With school starting this week, bicycle helmets were most likely the focus of the day for parents and kids alike. Let’s hope that everyone’s making the right choices out there on the roads when it comes to walking or riding to school or just driving the roads on a daily basis.
RiverFest was an important day for everyone involved, whether it was residents bonding, school-board candidates talking about their plans if elected, University of Washington-Bothell representatives discussing the new student residences and more.
Everyone was out in full force, as were strolling singers, jugglers, classic-car owners showing their vehicles and messy pie-eaters during the popular contest.
Fun, games and plenty of invaluable information: a successful RiverFest.
