Thanks, Shut, for posting Dona's memorial notice.
I spoke with her oldest son, Bryan, this evening. He sounds very upset, and his world is up-side-down, as much as to be changed legally and residentially following Dona's passing. Bryan had lived with Dona for the past five years, and spent much of it taking care of her as she dealt with health issues. Meyer and I met with Bryan and Dona when we went looking for the Amboy chute a couple years ago.
First, the DB Cooper festival is canceled for this year.
Secondly, Bryan hopes to get the title to the house and property, and prays that the transfer of rights will proceed smoothly. Afterwards, he can address other issues, especially the building itself.
Apparently the Ariel Store is legally a residence that was owned by Dona. She was allowed to operate a pub within the residence, but with her death that arrangement ends. In addition, many building code issues have to be addressed to allow the facility to re-open again to the public as a pub. Of course, the DB Cooper Festival would resume.
To do that, Bryan will have to organize an army of volunteers and local contractors to fix the grade and restore the building. Built in 1929, it's an oldie-but-a-goodie that needs a lot of help. It was the first structure it the Ariel area, and functioned as a post office, grocery store and bar for the workers who built the Merwin Dam.
In the new structure, Bryan wants to enhance the DB Cooper aspect by establishing a museum section. Bryan says that he has cabinets full of DB Cooper memorabilia that the public has never seen, which will add greatly to the many artifacts Dona had posted throughout the tavern.
In addition, he wants to have a memorial wall dedicated to his mother. In fact, he is planning on re-naming the building in her honor, something along the lines of "Mom's Memorial Ariel Store."
Dona owned the Ariel Store since 1990, purchasing it from the family of Jermaine Tricolor, who initiated the DB Cooper Days Festival in 1974. Dona continued that tradition until her passing.
Dona died on October 13, 2015 of complications from kidney disease and COPD. Ted Skillman told me today that LMNO filmed her in late September, just before he and his crew arrived at Thun Field to film Ron and Pat Forman, and me.
