TACOMA, Wash. — Family, friends, and coworkers of fallen Washington State Patrol Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting were joined by hundreds of mourners Saturday to lay her to rest at Life Center Church in Tacoma.
Guting had only been a trooper for about a year leading up to her death. During that time, she touched many lives and earned a reputation for going above and beyond her job description.
During an emotional service, mourners recounted Guting’s life, including her early days in Hawaii, her service with the National Guard, her marriage to her husband Timothy, and her time with the state patrol.
“Tara, while today our hearts ache with your absence, we know you did not leave us behind,” Shannen Tanaka, Guting’s sister, said. “You remain bound to us by a love that does not end, walking with us just beyond our sight until the day we are able to be together again.”
Guting was struck and killed while working a crash near the Port of Tacoma last Friday. She was just 29 years old.
“Tara, you were my safe place,” Lily Guerrero, a friend of Guting’s, said. “You made the world feel softer, more funny and exceedingly more manageable.”
One fellow trooper shared a story of a time Guting responded to a car broken down in the road, which he said was emblematic of her time with WSP.
He said Guting paid for the car to be towed out of her own pocket so its owner, who was facing financial troubles, wouldn’t have his only means of transportation impounded.
“Just to help that random person who she had never met and would never meet again,” Trooper Harrison Klever said. “I asked her why she did it. She just responded, ‘He needed some help and it was the right thing to do.’”
Friends and coworkers say such acts of kindness were nearly constant. Even through smaller actions like friendly phone calls or bringing snacks to share at work, she inspired others to be their best selves.
“The world is worse off without Tara, but she will never be gone,” Clever said. “I know myself and every person in this room will carry her with us every single day.”
According to Tacoma police, one of two drivers to hit Guting left the scene. Investigators reportedly found the truck described as a “vehicle of interest,” but there is no word on any arrests or charges.
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