'Gone but not forgotten.' Workers killed by crane remembered in notes left near collapse site

Four days after a fatal crane collapse in South Lake Union, makeshift memorials have sprung up in the planted median on Mercer Street. One includes a welded metal cross with boots at its base. Attached to a tree is a notepad where workers have left their thoughts.

The crane collapsed on Saturday, April 27, killing ironworkers Andrew Yoder and Travis Corbet. Two other victims killed in their cars on Mercer Street include Seattle Pacific University Student Sarah Wong and retired City of Seattle employee Alan Justad.

On Mercer Street, signs of the violent collapse are still there: patches of new asphalt where the crane tore concrete from the road, a huge chunk torn from the roof of the Google building, a broken window in the hotel across the street.

The construction site is strangely quiet. Approach construction workers in the park, and they're quiet, too. They've been asked not to talk. Still, those workers will show off the decals on their hard hats, which show a crane, the date of the accident and the words "Gone but not forgotten."

In a notebook hanging from a tree in the planting median on Mercer Street, however, those workers spoke freely about fallen members of their union family.

They wrote:

• "You guys broke me in while I was green in the seat. I will forever be grateful to you, my IW brothers and sisters, in this life and beyond. Shawn, IEOU 612. Brothers and sisters please leave a note in here."
• "Travis – I love you more than you will ever know. Your sister, SH."
• "Andrew, brother, I will never forget you. You are an amazing person and a good ironworker every day. I was privileged to have known you and worked with you. Your friend and brother, Jesse A. Pugh. '86.'"
• "I love both you. Travis, Yoder, I'll see you on the other side. Larry."
• "Rest in Peace, local 86. Your brother Brandon.