By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Friends of the wife of one of the three men killed Saturday morning in the wreck on U.S. Highway 12 in Ethel have set up a memorial fund to help the families with the costs for funerals and burials.
Elvis Garcia-Ortiz, 44, of Centralia, died, along with two of his uncles when their small pickup slid on ice into a log truck just before 6:30 a.m. near Larmon Road.
Garcia-Lopez leaves behind a wife Victoria Garcia and five children, according to a friend, Jean Tennihill. His uncles, Javier Ortiz-Valdovinos, 49, and Rigoberto Ortiz, 46, both of Rochester, have children as well, she said.
Tennihill, who works with Victoria Garcia in Tumwater, said she doesn’t believe the mothers in the other two families work.
“The financial expense of it is just huge on them,” Tennihill said.
It’s a large family and her friend Victoria Garcia is overwhelmed, she said. She and her co-worker Desiree Rosenberg thought opening an account for possible donations made more sense than people sending flowers, given the needs right now.
Donations can be made at any branch of Washington State Employees Credit Union, by writing a check out to WSECU and noting “Elvis Garcia Memorial Fund” in the memo line, according to Tennihill.
Troopers were told the three men were headed out hunting before the wreck that totaled their truck and ended their lives. The log truck driver, James K. Chenoweth, 35, of Glenoma, was reportedly uninjured.
Tennihill can be reached at 360-259-4120.