Friends and family remember avid hiker-equal justice advocated killed by falling tree

Family and friends are mourning an avid hiker, killed Sunday when a tree fell on her.

The freak accident that claimed her life.

The tragedy happened at about 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the popular Dickerson Creek Waterfall near Bremerton. Rescuers say a tree fell below the waterfall and pinned the victim.  She could not be revived.

Her grieving boyfriend and brother are still in shock, trying to come to terms with something so terrible happening in a place so familiar.

These are difficult days for those who knew and loved Allyson Fredericksen.  Her older brother, Jeremy Fredericksen-Aguilar, here from California, and Brian Williams, her longtime boyfriend, who was with her that fateful Sunday.

“There was no indication that we shouldn’t be there,” Williams said.

Williams says he and Allyson were with a running/hiking group that meets every other weekend at Dickerson Creek Waterfall near Bremerton.

Last Sunday’s hike was rainy and chilly but otherwise unremarkable.  A dozen of them were scrambling over fallen logs to get to the other side of the creek when suddenly a dead tree came down directly on Allyson.

“She had no, no way to do anything,” Williams said. “I don’t think she knew what happened to her. It was immediate straight onto her. Yeah. And not me. And not someone that was behind her. It was a tragic accident that no one could have avoided.”

Williams says he introduced Allyson to hiking and she took to it. She regularly posted pictures of their adventures.

But her brother says it was her work at Columbia Legal Services that his 39-year-old sister was most passionate about.

“Allyson dedicated her life to fighting against inequality, fighting for justice,” said Fredericksen-Aguilar, “fighting for the people of seattle who have the least.  Our relationship was really strong. And I just loved her to death. She is just the best sister I could ask for.”

He says the family has started a Go Fund Me account to raise money for the causes that were so dear to her.

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