PASCO, Wash. – Residents of the Tri-Cities area reflected on the 45th anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruption, a day that claimed 57 lives and reshaped the landscape.
Arnold and Donna Boothe have lived in Pasco since the eruption.
The feelings remain vivid even after 45 years. “I was just shocked at how it impacted us in our area,” Donna said.
She was ironically prepared for the event. “I was in the Sunday school class… and we were studying the end times… Then the clouds were getting dark through the window, and we went outside and I thought, ‘oh, so it’s actually happening,'” she stated.
Arnold, who didn’t know Donna at the time, was also attending Sunday school. “We were getting to the end of the class, and we noticed the dark clouds across the windows, and we all made a joke about, ‘oh, hay’s bringing the rain. Every time you cut hay it brings rain. But it wasn’t rain,” he said.
The eruption interrupted Arnold’s work. “I was in the middle of planting beans, and I had half a field planted, and I was going to, maybe start Sunday after church to plant the other half,” he added.
In the aftermath, Donna faced the challenge of cleaning up. “I’m a neat freak. And so I don’t like dirt tracked in my house or anything. So [I would say], ‘kids, get that ash off your feet before you come in the house.’ And I’d try to hose, the deck off and things like that,” she said.
Reflecting on the magnitude of the eruption, Donna expressed a sense of awe. “I’m actually glad to have experienced it because of the, you know, the impact of Mother Nature. Just it’s powerful. It’s more powerful than I would have thought,” she emphasized.
For those interested in learning more about Mount St. Helens, the Franklin County Historical Society Museum offers additional resources.
