Yountville victims: a moving farewell
Huge crowd at memorial tribute to 3 who ‘dedicated their lives’ to vets in need
Health care workers, former soldiers, politicians and mourners from across California gave a tearful farewell Monday to three health care workers shot to death by a troubled veteran at the Pathway Home care facility in Yountville a little more than a week ago.
The somber crowd of close to 2,000 people packed into the Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, on the sprawling tree-lined campus of the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, to honor Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba, Christine Loeber and Jennifer Gray Golick.
They were killed March 9 when Albert Wong, 36, a decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan, barged into a farewell party for an employee at the treatment center for troubled veterans and took them hostage.
Shushereba, who worked as a clinical psychologist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Loeber, the executive director of the Pathway Home; and Golick, the center’s clinical director, were found dead that night, along with Wong, after detectives raided the facility. They had all tried to help their killer, a former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Autopsies and a Napa County forensics report
concluded that the women died of gunshot wounds to the head. Wong, a former patient who had been kicked out of the program, killed himself, the report said.
“There's no playbook for what we are going through right now,” said Mike Gonzales, the father of Shushereba, who was six months pregnant when she was killed. He stood next to three large wreaths beneath portraits of his daughter and her co-workers, and described their selflessness, compassion and tireless work helping veterans of war.
“Who does that? My thought is, only the best of us do,” said Gonzales, who called for more services for traumatized veterans. “Year after year, we continue to send our sons and daughters all over the globe to protect and defend us. They've had to see unspeakable things. They've had to do unspeakable things . ... They need resources, they need attention. They need our help, and these women dedicated their lives to that.”
Keith Armstrong, the director of mental health and social work at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, talked about how Golick, whose nickname was Jiffy, was an expert healer who loved San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence and leaves an 8-year-old daughter behind. He said Loeber was as efficient as she was passionate and hardworking, and Shushereba, who was about to celebrate her first wedding anniversary, was “radiant, effervescent, enthusiastic.”
“Losing them feels like an affront to all our ideals . ... It is emotionally devastating. It is personally devastating. It is spiritually devastating,” he said. “Five lives were destroyed,” including the unborn baby. “We will continue their work, we will honor their lives, we will guard their legacies, we will carry their torches.”
Before the memorial, Gov. Jerry Brown proclaimed Monday a “day of remembrance of the Yountville shooting” and ordered the flags over the state Capitol flown at half staff.
By the time the ceremony started, every one of the 1,200 seats in the amphitheater was occupied, and veterans in wheelchairs lined the front section and mezzanine level. An auxiliary viewing area was also filled.
Former patients and coworkers of the three women took shuttles from VA hospitals in San Francisco and Palo Alto to the memorial. Outside, a truck offered services to combat veterans, and members of an American Legion motorcycle group lined up at the entrance greeting mourners with American flags.
Vito Imbasciani, the California secretary of veterans affairs, said the killings happened in what had been a peaceful haven for 900 veterans. He said the three women had selflessly gone to battle for their patients at the Pathway Home, a nonprofit that has treated hundreds of veterans suffering emotional trauma from post-9/11 wars.
“They did not wear the uniform of the Army. They did not wear the uniform of the Air Force, the Marines or the Coast Guard, but make no mistake, they served with us,” Imbasciani said.
“We receive the finest lip service in the country,” said Zach Skiles, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq 15 years ago and became a doctoral student in clinical psychology after getting assistance at the Pathway Home.
But Golick, Loeber and Shushereba provided “an authentic connection” and “the love and dedication it takes to lead us through hardship,” he said, struggling to hold back tears. “Every day these women gave so much more than lip service.”
A woodwind quintet from Travis Air Force base played a subdued rendition of “America the Beautiful” and “Amazing Grace” before Gonzales stood up to speak.
At the end of his remarks, he quoted his daughter’s advice recently to several of her friends to ease their concerns about the state of the world and their lives.
“If there is a cause that you believe in, put your passion, time and money into it,” he read from his daughter’s note. “We are not helpless. We are women and men of action, so let’s go out there and do some good.”