We remember the Huskies we lost in a plane crash on Sept. 12, 2001

24 years ago, 16 purple-and-gold souls were killed in a plane crash in Mexico. They are still in our hearts and minds.

by Jon Marmor | September 3, 2025

It happened a generation ago: 24 years to be exact. On Sept. 12, 2025, we take a moment to remember the wrenching, unbelievable, stunning, awful, it-can’t-be news about that plane crash in Mexico that took 16 Huskies from us the day after 9/11. Ever since that day, families, friends, sorority sisters, fraternity brothers, classmates, partners, sons, daughters, dads, moms, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, neighbors suffered a devastation that has not gone away. And won’t ever.

So, we take a deep breath and do what the sadly apt headline in the December 2001 Columns magazine said: Remember the Huskies.

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Karen O. Burks
During her years as a UW student in the 1980s, Karen Owsley Burks, ’86, was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, president of her sorority, president of Panhellenic and a member of Mortar Board. Burks, 37, and two of her sorority sisters signed up for the cruise before the Miami game. “She was very excited about it,” recalls her younger sister, Sidney Blank, ’90. But nothing excited Burks more than being a mother to her girls Kelsey and Emily. “Being a mom was her true love,” Blank says. “She was put on Earth to be a mom. She had no regrets at all,” Blank says. “She knew she was loved.”

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Scott Douglas Columbia

Scott Columbia, a Montana native, was a whiz at math and engineering, earning his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the UW in 1988 and spending 22 years with Boeing. “He was a wonderful man, energetic, knowledgeable, and people loved him,” his wife, Debbie, says. “He was always smiling and upbeat.” A Husky season ticket holder since 1987, Columbia, 44, and his wife went on a Caribbean cruise before the 1994 UW-Miami game and were the first to sign up for the 2001 cruise.

 

 

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Shirley and Charles Genther

Shirley, ’45, and Charles, ’52, Genther of Seattle had many things in common. Two of the biggest were a love of adventure and a passion for the University of Washington and its football team. “They had a suite on the cruise ship next to Don James,” says Genther’s son, Mark, of Seattle. “They were very big fans.” The Genthers loved adventure, traveling around the world several times and getting away any time they could-including many Husky road games. “They always wanted to see something new,” Mark says.

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Mary Kearney

Mary Kearney had a passion for sports, including Husky football—even though she did not attend the UW. In fact, her love for sports could be summed up very succinctly: “Big time,” says her younger brother, John Hardey of Bremerton. Their mother, Betty Hartley, a UW student in the 1930s, always listened to Husky games on the radio when Mary and her brothers were growing up. Kearney retired in 1993 and moved to Whidbey Island to live with and care for her late parents through their last years. “She was a very warm person,” John recalls. “She was more than my sister. She was my best friend.”

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Barbara Ann Martin

Hard-working, diligent, caring—these are just a few of the words that describe Barbara A. Martin, ’67, of Lake Forest Park. She was also a loyal Husky football fan. She and her husband, Ron, have had season tickets since 1967. “We sometimes would ride our bikes from our home down to Husky Stadium to tailgate before games,” recalls Ron, ’66, ’67, ’79. “When we got a little older, we didn’t ride our bikes, but we still tailgated.” She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the UW in 1967 and spent 31 years as a beloved social studies and English teacher at Meadowdale Middle School in Lynnwood.

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Lois and Dwight Mitchell

Lois and Dwight Mitchell were fixtures in Oak Harbor for four decades—as well as regular visitors to Seattle to see their beloved Huskies, Seahawks and Mariners in action. A native of Puyallup, Lois, 60, was a home economics teacher for 30 years. Dwight, 64, was a mechanic at a local Ford dealership for more than 25 years. The Mitchells loved to spend time on their 39-foot Bayliner “Sounder,” taking month-long trips to the San Juans and Canada’s Gulf Islands every summer with one of their best friends, fellow Oak Harbor resident Ted Zylstra. He died in the same plane crash.

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Linda and Larry Schwab

Linda and Larry Schwab did not attend the UW. Still, they were lifelong Husky fans and ardent proponents of the University. The Schwabs, both 50, met as teenagers in Auburn and were mar­ried right out of high school. They signed up for the Husky Tailgate at Sea cruise to celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary—which was 11 days after they died together in the plane crash. The lifelong Auburn residents may have loved the UW, but they were absolutely crazy about each other. “Their lives were so intertwined with each other,” Larry’s brother Roger recalls. “They lived life to the fullest.”

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Lisa Marie Styer

Like her dad and her brother before her, Lisa Marie Styer, ’87, came to the UW to study civil engineering in the 1980s. While she loved her field, she also loved belonging to her sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, where she became best friends with three fellow sorority sisters—Sue Dalton, ’85; Julie Gardner, ’87; and Karen Burks, ’86. Styer, Burks and Dalton went on the cruise together, and Burks was on the plane with Styer when it crashed. “She was sharp as a tack, always curious to learn more and never seemed uncomfortable with any topic,” recalls her brother, Matt, ’86. “Her ability to laugh and make people comfortable was so special.”

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Geoff and Judy Vernon

Judy, ’62, and Geoff Vernon, ’65, were childhood sweethearts at Ballard High School in Seattle, went to the UW together and were about to move into their dream home on Meydenbauer Bay in Clyde Hill mere weeks after they were supposed to return from their much anticipated Husky Tailgate at Sea cruise. They spent their lives working to make their community better, getting involved in everything from the PTA when their sons, Trevor and Greg, were in school, to serving in many other capacities with a host of community organizations. “Of all the organizations Geoff served,” recalls his friend and fellow UWAA board member Cory Carlson, ’81, “he was most of all a Husky.”

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Judy Wade and Larry Wade

For years, Judy and Larry Wade, ’63, ’64, used to take their 40-foot cruiser to Husky Stadium to watch football games on Saturdays in the fall. The Wades were fixtures at Husky Stadium, bringing their three daughters along with them for tailgating parties in their “woody” station wagon and then to games since the girls were in junior high school. Larry was known as a perfectionist who made sure any project he tackled turned out just so. Judy was a community volunteer who donated her time to First Place School, Woodland Park Zoo and the Blue Ridge Community Center. “She was just full of life,” their daughter Melinda Wade Gardner recalls. “Everyone fell in love with her.”

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Theodore D. Zylstra

Like any doting father, Theodore D. Zylstra, ’57, used to sing his daughter Debbie to sleep when she was an infant. His choice of song? “Bow Down to Washington.” His love for Husky football and the UW were legendary in his hometown of Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. A 1957 graduate of the UW School of Law, the Oak Harbor born-and-raised Zylstra was a community volunteer and successful attorney before he retired last year. He held season tickets to Husky football for 37 years and traveled to many road games. An only child, he also took great pride in his family. “He just wanted to be remembered as a person of strong faith who wanted to do what was right for his clients, his family and his friends,” his cousin, Robert, says.

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UW Magazine Editor Jon Marmor, ’94, interviewed dozens of family members and friends in 2001 to write these memorials. They originally appeared in the December 2001 issue of Columns.