Slain Seattle women, Kirkland family honored

In vast outpourings of support, thousands of friends and relatives of two different families shared their memories and grief at separate memorials Sunday.

In Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, crowds filled a high-school gymnasium to remember Mary Cooper and her daughter Susanna Stodden.

In Kirkland's Rose Hill neighborhood, a church filled to overflowing to honor Olga Milkin, her two young sons, Justin and Andrew, and her sister Lyubov Botvina.

The six lives were lost in crimes that stunned people across the region with their violence.

Mother and daughter

David Stodden remembered how every Sunday morning, his wife, Mary Cooper, would go for a jog while he rode his bike. They would meet up at their favorite coffee shop afterward, poring over The New York Times and discussing liberal politics.

Teacher Teresa Swanson remembered how Cooper would brighten her morning by stopping to chat on her way to the library at the Seattle elementary school where both worked.

Catie Light remembered how her roommate of three years, the petite Susanna Stodden, couldn't quite reach the kitchen light switch, but hiked tall peaks with ease.

Those were among the many memories shared with more than 1,500 people who packed the Ballard High School gymnasium Sunday to remember Cooper and Stodden, the mother and daughter who were fatally shot while hiking toward Pinnacle Lake in Snohomish County on July 11.

No mention was made of the brutal backwoods shootings that ended the two lives. Rather, the service was upbeat, with mourners laughing as they shared stories and photos of the two women.

Authorities have yet to identify a suspect, and few details about the investigation have been released.

Cooper's husband thanked the crowd for honoring his wife and daughter. He praised his two younger daughters, Elisa and Joanna Stodden, for "reminding me of the thousands of good things they did that far outweigh this one bad thing" that befell them.

Two sign-language interpreters translated the service, which was heavily attended by members of the deaf community whom Cooper taught earlier in her career, before becoming a librarian at Seattle's Alternative Elementary II (AEII) school. Hundreds of students also attended.

Elisa and Joanna Stodden together shared many lessons they had learned from their mother and sister.

From their mother, the two daughters learned "that TV insults women, and being able to recognize that is worth a chocolate chip" and from their older — and shorter — sister: "Size doesn't correlate to power."

Norman Lee, Susanna Stodden's boyfriend, remembered the couple's first date, which started at a Friends of the Seattle Public Library book sale and ended up outdoors, which many remembered was her favorite place to be.

Mary Cooper's younger sister Nancy shared excerpts from Cooper's two autobiographies — one Cooper wrote in sixth grade and the other just before she graduated from high school in 1968.

Mary Cooper wrote that she was proud of the many things she had learned from her father, but "most of all, to be independent." In her earlier memoir, she bragged about finishing the second-grade reader while still in kindergarten — an early indicator, Nancy Cooper said, of her sister's future career as a librarian and educator.

Libby Sinclair, a Seattle teacher who worked with Cooper at AEII, told mourners that the mother of three taught "history, bravery, empathy and compassion.

"She, like her daughter, was a card-carrying optimist and truly believed the goodness of people would eventually prevail over evil," Sinclair said. "I believe it, too."

"Hearts torn in two"

From across the region and from across cultures, more than 2,200 gathered at The City Church in Kirkland to honor a young family of four slain last week in their Kirkland home.

Services were conducted in Russian and English at what church officials said was the largest memorial they've seen since the church moved to Kirkland nine years ago. The sisters emigrated from Russia in 1993.

"In our community this week, something unimaginable has happened," City Church Pastor Jude Fouquier said as he stood before the caskets of Olga Milkin, 28, her sons Justin, 5, and Andrew, 3, and her sister, Lyubov Botvina, 24. "Even though our hearts are torn in two, we come today to celebrate these mighty women of God and their children."

A mile away, authorities were still investigating the charred remains of the Milkin home. Police have arrested a neighbor, 24-year-old Conner Schierman, on suspicion of four counts of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of aggravated arson.

Milkin's husband, National Guard Sgt. Leonid Milkin, was deployed in Iraq when he learned of the deaths. He returned to Kirkland on Wednesday.

"I loved my family. They did not live in vain, and they did not die in vain," Leonid Milkin said at the service. "The positive memories of them surpass the grief."

His mother, Tatiana Milkin, spoke in Russian. When an interpreter used the word daughter-in-law to describe Olga, she shouted out in English: "No, not daughter-in-law. She was my daughter."

Pastors from several churches also spoke. Milkin and her children were members of The City Church and also attended Russian services at the Church of the Living God in Bothell. Botvina was active in the Christian Faith Center in Everett.

There were lighter moments at the service as well. The women's sister, Vita Petrus, remembered that Botvina loved to change her personal style.

"Every time she got a paycheck she got a different haircut," Petrus joked. "Red, black, brown, brown with blond highlights."

But Botvina was also devoted to God, Petrus said, recalling that when Botvina lived with her for several months, she often stayed up late reading the Bible. And Petrus often heard her praying in her room.

Alla Botvina, sister and aunt of the victims, said she will always remember her nephews.

"Justin would come to my apartment and bring me flowers. Every hour," she said. The children "dug a hole into my heart, even though I thought I didn't like kids."

Pastor John Petrus, brother-in-law of the deceased women, thanked all who came for their support. "We as a family choose to have the heart of Jesus Christ," Petrus said. "The heart of forgiveness."

Nathan Hurst: 206-464-2112 or nhurst@seattletimes.com; Lisa Chiu: 206-464-3347 or lchiu@seattletimes.com