Ben, Maddy, Sam and Sue Tower. / Courtesy photo
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – Sue Tower speaks softly, sometimes with a trace of a smile when she talks about her children.
Eight days after she lost all three of them in one night in a house fire, she sits down at a Centralia coffee house because she wants to share memories of her little ones.
The 40-year-old old single mother who grew up in Chehalis confesses, she didn’t want to continue living, during the first few days.
But she knows now she must, she said.
“Otherwise, their lives will have been in vain,” she said. “So I have to carry the light, and go on.”
Tower wanted to share about her children’s life, not their death.
Already she’s had to answer question after question from investigators, recalling for them even the tiniest details about that day, and the night that followed.
Sue Tower wants to talk about her children.
She doesn’t know what started the fire, but knows, for example, for sure she wasn’t burning candles that day, because she was out of candles and matches both, she said.
The conversation conveys at least part of the story, of three young lives cut short.
The family moved to Centralia, to the split-level home on Ham Hill Road last April.
The kids finished out the school year at Centennial Elementary School in Olympia. Before that, they attended Evergreen Christian School in Olympia.
Recently she had been contemplating moving, but her children were concerned about the possibility of giving up the new life they’d come to like very much, according to Tower.
“They came to me and said, ‘Mom, we can move, but we want to stay in our schools’,” she said. “They loved their teachers.”
Their home had become a hub for the youngsters and their friends, with a backyard trampoline, rabbits and chickens.
“I remember my kids that afternoon, they had their friends over,” Tower said. Her tone is peaceful.
Had it been a weekend, all of them would have ended up spending the night, she said.
“They had amazing friends, for just starting (school) in September,” she said.
Most important to Tower right now, is to keep the memory of Ben, Maddy and Sam alive.
Ben Tower
2003 – 2016
Benjamin D. Tower, 12, was a sixth grader at Washington Elementary School.
“A teddy bear, so sensitive, Mr. Pay-it-forward,” she said.
Her oldest was already wearing a size 14 shoe, and was going to be tall, she said.
He was captain of his football team, the Leathernecks.
“I feel for the kids on the line against him, he packed a punch,” she said. “But he’s the first to go help them up.”
Even in the land of Seahawks football mania, Ben was a staunch Broncos fan, she said.
She’s calls him a chicken whisperer, a boy who would greet them outside each morning, saying, “Hi babies.” They followed him around, she said.
Maddy Tower
2005 – 2016
Madeline R. Tower, 10, was a fourth grader at Washington Elementary School.
“Maddy was my quiet soul, she loved to read,” Tower said.
So much, that when she and her friend Natalie got together for a play day, they’d sit side by side and read, she said.
Maddy’s rabbit allowed her to dress it in doll clothes and be photographed, many times in many outfits.
Last summer, she had a bad bicycle accident, that left her with a concussion and broken teeth.
One of the children’s favorite places was Northwest Sports Hub at Borst Park in Centralia. Tower and her partner Jay Ryan opened the restaurant Hub CIty Grub there together.
It felt to the kids like their own personal playground, she said.
On a recent night, at already 9 p.m., Maddy begged her mother to take her and Natalie to the Hub, so they could play glow-in-the-dark frisbee. She broke her foot and was put on crutches, Tower said.
Sam Tower
2008 – 2016
Samuel J. Tower, 7, was a second grader at Edison Elementary School.
Her youngest had possibly as many as three girlfriends, she said.
“Sam was my active child,” she said.
He played soccer this past fall, and was so successful his coaches asked her how many years he’d been doing it, she said.
Tower said he was a master climber, a runner and skilled on the trampoline.
“He was at the point he could do back flips, seven in a row, and stick it,” she said. “And incredibly smart. All of them.”
Like his siblings, he swam.
“All my kids, since they were itty bitty babies,” their mother said.
Tower is staying in Centralia, feeling gratitude and feeling humbled by so much support from so many and for the police and firefighters who came early the morning of March 4.
“I’m trying to make a list to send thank yous, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do that,” she said. “This is something that happens to other people, not me. I had plans.”
Now, she’s planning a celebration of life for Ben, Maddy and Sam.
It’s set for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, at the Northwest Sports Hub.
Everyone is welcome, but she hopes nobody comes dressed in black, she said.
“I want to honor them in a positive way,” she said.
Their father, Brad Tower, was making separate arrangements for a memorial in Olympia, she said.
Tower requests no flowers, at least not cut flowers.
She’s working with Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund, on something like a bench that could be placed at the Hub, maybe with plantings, she said.
She suggests that instead of flowers, people might find ways to support some of the things her children valued.
Maybe the Centralia pool, maybe the school library, maybe Camp Cispus, she said. Ben was very much looking forward to a school trip there this year, she said.
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For background, read “Heavy hearts as family loses three in Centralia house fire” from Friday March 4, 2016, here
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