Remembering Maria Massey

Maria Juliet Massey

By Margie Doyle

“Singing was at her core. It was what made her happiest. Singing expressed the inner warmth she had for all to see.”

In remembering his daughter Maria’s years on Orcas Island, Joe Massey is heartened by memories of her warmth and courage.

“She loved singing and acting her whole life. She’d sing at the drop of a hat — around the house, taking a walk, with her friends. She was well-known and widely acclaimed for her karaoke performances, and she sang wonderful duets at home with her older sister Joanna,” Massey said.

Since coming to Orcas Island in 2007 with her parents, Joe and Meg, Maria acted in local productions at the Actors Theater at the Grange and at Orcas Center. She performed in the “Ten-Minute Playfest” and “Curious Savage” with Actors Theater and as the indomitable Jo March in “Little Women” at the Center. She had taken a part in the upcoming production of “Galileo” at Orcas Center. Joe Massey says, “I hope everyone goes to see the play; I understand that one evening’s show will be in Maria’s honor.”

Maria graduated from Hanover High in New Hampshire, where the family lived while Joe Massey was a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Following high school graduation, Maria attended Chapman University and Portland (Ore.) State University’s NW Film Center.

While on Orcas, she worked at the Orcas Hotel, Rose’s Bakery and Cafe, Rosario Resort and the Madrona Bar and Grill .

Joe Massey remembers hugging Maria good-bye as she left the family home to visit a friend for a few hours early in the morning on Nov. 21. As most parents do, he urged her to drive safely.

Soon thereafter, it is surmised, Maria’s car crashed into a tree on Crow Valley Road and was totaled. “We don’t know what caused the accident; the night was pitch black and it was raining, cold and windy. And we’d heard there was a deer seen on the road at that spot,” Massey says.

All the airbags in the car were set off, and Maria, probably in shock and disoriented, set out to find help. The following morning she was found some distance from the car. Though she had bravely sought help, she did not survive the elements.

Joe Massey has nothing but appreciation for the searches that were conducted to help find Maria. “Right away, Deputy Sheriff Steve Johns and Fire and Rescue Lieutenant Chad Kimple were there as soon as we heard of the crash.

“They and I walked and drove and knocked on every door on Crow Valley Road between Nordstrom Lane and West Beach Road in case Maria had found shelter in someone’s home. We looked in abandoned barns and cars. We thought maybe she’d been picked up and taken by ferry to a hospital; we called all the doctors and all the hospitals between Seattle and Bellingham. For the whole day and much of the night following the crash, Deputy Johns and deputies Nikki Rogers and Herb Crow spent many hours working on contacting Maria’s friends and acquaintances in the hope that she had found shelter and safety with one of them.”

Orcas Fire and Rescue Chief Kevin O’Brien organized a 40-person search. “They did a great job,” said Massey. “Chief O’Brien was very compassionate and very efficient. Friends and neighbors and folks we didn’t know came to help. Dr. Chris White was terrific.”

“The Fire and Rescue team leaders in the field, with the support of Deputy Johns and Dave Halloran of the San Juan County Emergency Management Office, could not have done a better job in leading the volunteers in a carefully planned and executed ground search. Back at the main Fire Station in Eastsound, Fire and Rescue’s Lindsay Schirmer did an impressive job in handling the communications among all of the search groups.

“Randy Gaylord was involved every step of the way; he had his children out searching, and Steve Johns had his son helping. The extent to which people went the extra mile to help us made us aware of the what a wonderful, caring community Orcas is.”

When Maria was found, it was apparent “She had made a brave effort to find help,” her father said.

“The community should be proud of the love and warmth it showed to us,” Massey says.

Joanna Massey is home on Orcas from Australia where she now lives. A Memorial Service for Maria Juliet Massey is planned for Saturday, December 22.

The Massey family has set up the Maria Massey Memorial Fund with the Community Foundation “to provide modest support for aspiring and struggling actors and musicians on the island,” Joe Massey says. “The island is a haven for actors and singers. The fund will provide help for acting, singing and directing classes and travel, to provide real benefit for the folks that Maria loved, worked with and enjoyed on the island.”