By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch The tribute to Margaret Anderson might also have been called a final homecoming for the late Mount Rainier National Park ranger. The Eatonville Post Office was formally rededicated last Friday in memory of Anderson, who was killed more than two years ago by a gunman at the park. Anderson lived in Eatonville and was a volunteer with the town's fire department. Those connections were among the recollections of her by officials, her former co-workers and her parents during a ceremony in front of the post office. "I know the people of Eatonville will never forget her," but visitors and newcomers will also know about Anderson through the plaque and photograph of her that will be displayed permanently on a wall inside the post office, said U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, who championed the rededication that required congressional action. On Jan. 1, 2012, Anderson, 34, was trying to stop a motorist who didn't stop for a mandatory checkpoint in the park for vehicle tire chains. The driver shot the law enforcement ranger before fleeing on foot into the mountain wilderness. After an armed manhunt, searchers found him dead the next day of exposure to the winter elements. Anderson and her husband, Eric, who also was a park ranger at the mountain, had two children. After her death, the family moved out of state. Eric now is working in Idaho with the National Park Service. Anderson's parents, Paul and Dorothy Kritsch, traveled from their East Coast home to be part of the post office ceremony. Before unveiling the plaque, they shared personal memories of their daughter as a high school athlete, a college student who spent a semester studying in Australia, an art lover, a godmother of nieces and nephews, and a ranger who had a 12-year career in the Park Service. During her time working at Mount Rainier, "she called us every Sunday evening after her shift. Thone phone calls stopped" the day of her death, Dorothy Kritsch said, her voice quavering with emotion. The park's chief ranger, Chuck Young, thanked the Kritsches for their "strength and compassion" that helped him "get through some of the darkest hours of my career" following Anderson's shocking death. Don Jacobus, district manager for the Postal Service, told the ceremony audience of about 50 people seated and standing in Center Street in front of the post office about an encounter he and his children had with Anderson during a visit to the park. She gently steered them away from a trail they weren't supposed to use during a day hike, and he was impressed by her professionalism and personable way, Jacobus said. Rededicating the post office in Anderson's name is "an incredible honor for the Postal Service," he said. The facility will still be known as the Eatonville Post Office. At one point during his remarks, Reichert referred to a congressional process that was capped with the Senate's approval in May by apologizing that "it took so long." But he said the process was worthwhile to memorialize Anderson and "the kind of person she was." Eatonville's is the second post office in Washington to be dedicated in the name of a local citizen. In February 2012, a post office on Bainbridge Island was linked to John "Bud" Hawk, a Medal of Honor recipient from World War II who was born and raised on the island.
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