Bravo, Baker City

The victims will never forget the crash that killed two of their friends.

But we hope the survivors will remember something about their visit to Baker City besides the ice and the pain and the instant when their world, quite literally, was turned upside down.

We believe those seven who stayed in Baker City the day after the terrible wreck on Interstate 84 will always recall the way people they had never met welcomed them as though they were well-loved family.

That the American Red Cross delivered warm blankets to the crash site and assembled comfort kits with toiletries and other items for the survivors and their families who traveled here from Colorado.

That Matt Willson, youth pastor at the Nazarene Church, came to St. Elizabeth Health Services to offer his condolences and support to the survivors.

That Bob Borders, who works at the hospital, called Nazarene Pastor Jon Privett to collect clothes from the Northeast Oregon Compassion Center for the victims, most of whom were thrown from the van onto the hard frozen ground.

That Privett and his wife, Cathleen, insisted the survivors, their wounds still raw, sleep the first night not in the impersonality of a motel room but rather in the warm embrace of the couple’s home, where a nurse was available through the night to change bandages and dispense medicine.

That many other residents, whose names the victims likely will never know, cooked meals and donated money and offered to help in any way they could.

Nicole Byrd, who was driving the van, said the generosity and sympathy of Baker City’s residents reminded her of her own congregation.

“That’s exactly what I felt here, even at the hospital,” Byrd said. “The love — they were hurting from our situation.”

Another survivor, Marketa Smith, was impressed too.

“You guys are amazing,” she said.

We think so, too.