An apparent act of post-Fourth of July vandalism has taken a cherished memento from a Parkland widow: a mailbox made by her husband, who died last year.
Erika Druet heard an explosion outside her home before 10 p.m. July 8. She went to check it out and ended up feeling as shattered as the remnants of wood and steel she found strewn on and around her property.
Her mailbox – a replica of the home she shared with her husband, Ron, for 34 years – was the target of an “illegal-type firework you would get around the Fourth of July,” said Ed Troyer, spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
The mailbox had a special place in Druet’s heart because it was a gift from her husband, who died last year at age 79 after a 15-year fight with Parkinson’s disease.
“It was a sentimental piece,” said Druet, 74.
She asked her husband for a mailbox that looked just like their home, and he surprised her with a handcrafted mailbox, painted with the same yellow and brown colors the house still wears today.
He made it with a friend’s help in 1979.
“I wanted it built like our house,” Druet said. “It was something different.”
The mailbox had been targeted by vandals in the past, but it had always been fixable. About 10 years ago, someone took a bat to it, but no major damage was done.
And Ron had always been there to repair it.
The explosion earlier this month left the mailbox in numerous pieces that can’t be reassembled. A two-foot-long piece, which had been the replica’s roof, flew over Druet’s home. The metal base that the mailbox stood on was bent from the blast.
“The explosion was so loud all the neighbors heard,” she said.
Druet said a neighbor that night witnessed two males driving in a car with a loud muffler. The neighbor said they put the explosive in the mailbox and sped away.
In a tearful interview last week, Druet said she was surprised an act of mischief like this could happen in her area of Parkland along 141st Street South.
“It’s a quiet neighborhood,” she said. “There’s no crime here.”
Neighbor Dawn McGinnis doesn’t think that’s the case anymore.
Last Friday morning, she was walking the streets putting hot-pink crime-watch fliers in every mailbox she passed.
McGinnis said her car had been broken into the previous night. Though nothing was taken, her frustration grew because of other crime problems recently in the neighborhood.
Valuables such as mail, yard art, rakes, shovels and propane tanks have been stolen, McGinnis said.
“We’re just so tired,” she said. “We’ve done everything we’ve been told to do (by law enforcement) and then some.”
McGinnis expressed sympathy to Druet and anger that someone would destroy a mailbox so precious.
Ron Druet was an Air Force veteran of 22 years followed by 17 years working with narcotics in the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department crime lab.
The Druets were married 32 years. They met at a Tacoma tavern on country-western music night.
“We danced and we dated. And that was it,” she said. “There’s not another one like Ron.”
Druet emigrated from Germany, and her home is full of handmade belongings. None means as much to her as the mailbox her husband crafted.
Druet owned a beauty salon for 28 years; she sold it when her husband’s disease worsened. For the last three years of Ron Druet’s life, he wasn’t able to leave his bed, so his wife stayed by his side and took care of him.
These days, she volunteers at the Department of Veterans Affairs nursing home in Lakewood twice a week. “My husband would be so proud, seeing me taking care of his fellow comrades.”
If he were alive, he might also take solace in knowing another replica of the house will rise. Druet’s 52-year-old son, Heinz Holzinger, plans to build a new mailbox from scratch.
Stephanie Kim: 253-597-8692
stephanie.kim@thenewstribune.com
HOW TO HELP
Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers is willing to pay a reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone in connection with the July 8 destruction of a Parkland mailbox. Crime Stoppers’ tip line is 253-591-5959.
Homeowner Erika Druet said she also would award $500.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.