Devin Weaver: 21-year-old was generous with family, always willing to lend helping hand

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Always sporting his tight Wrangler jeans, cowboy boots from Mexico and white T-shirt, Devin Andrew Weaver was unsure if he was an intellectual or an outdoorsman.

After giving up on baseball after attempting a comeback at Yakima Valley Community College, Weaver - who just turned 21 - had planned to attend the University of Washington this fall to major in electrical engineering.

But the soft-spoken Weaver was going to give up what he loved most about Yakima: being close to his family and his favorite camping spots.

"Unlike some teenagers, Devin never got tired of us," said his mother, Barbara Weaver. "He'd sit and watch TV with the old folks, even if it wasn't the cool thing."

Since eighth grade, Devin Weaver had worked for his father's silk-flower manufacturing business in Moxee City, Yakima County. But he longed to be where the action was, and the firefighting job he started three weeks ago was like getting paid for playing outdoors.

Family members described him as a generous soul who would always lend a hand to them - cutting lawns for his grandmothers and finishing furniture for his parents.

One of his grandmothers said he came over one Christmas with holiday lights he'd bought and strung them on her house.

Weaver and his father, Ken, were especially close. He bagged his first deer with him at age 12, and they would always go golfing but never keep score.

"I told him, 'I'm raising a kid, but I want a lifetime friend out of this,'" Ken Weaver said. "The huge void this leaves in my life with him gone - the 21 years with him in my life made it worth it. They were that good.

"It points out how fragile your existence really is. We all think we have everything under control. But the moment something like this happens, your whole life is turned on its end."

Ken Weaver said he wants to find the spot where his son died and build a memorial there.

"A piece of me is in that spot. A big piece."

Reid Forgrave can be reached at 206-464-2785.