Four of the survivors walked out to the end of the dock on Lake Tapps and lightly tossed four flowers into the water.

They turned to each other and hugged, all remembering their friend who didn’t survive the crash they all suffered through last year.

On Tuesday afternoon, 30 friends came to the boat launch at Alan Yorke Park to remember Ron Scott, the jovial boater who was killed Sept. 29 last year in a crash that maimed six others and tore apart the tight-knit Lake Tapps community.

“It has been the quickest year of my life,” said Jeff Ausbun, who was close friends with Scott and was sitting in the front of the boat at the time of the crash.

“It’s hard to believe it happened in the first place,” friend Kodi Bearpaw said.

Friends of Scott got together to decide a proper way to memorialize him. On Tuesday, they unveiled a granite plaque that they placed at the boat launch. In the middle of the plaque is a picture of Scott, sitting in the captain’s chair of his boat – an image friends will always remember.

On the side, the engraving reads, “Your memory will never die. With love from survivors and friends.”

At the bottom, it states: “Please boat responsibly.”

“We wanted it here,” said Bill Knapp, another survivor and close friend. “It’s a memorial of Ron. If one person can read it and understand what happened, maybe they will be responsible.”

It sits with a new palm tree, another symbol of Scott’s personality.

“He wore Hawaiian shirts all the time, so it’s a tree that describes him,” crash survivor Maxine Mroczkowski said.

Scott moved to the shores of Lake Tapps 10 years ago and worked as a real estate agent for John L. Scott. Right away, he made close friends, and many of them came out to the boat launch Tuesday. Afterward, they shared a couple of bottles of Scott’s favorite beer at a local bar.

“We have a big group of friends,” Ausbun said.

Scott’s biggest passion was boating. He bought his 18-foot Bayliner for $500 in Virginia and towed it across America. He worked on it and was always out on the water when he got it working.

“It was Ron’s favorite thing to do,” Knapp said. “He loved the sunsets. He loved the mountain. That was his passion.”

And that’s what he was doing the night he died. The weather was nice, so Scott took the day off from work at the Wilkeson Saloon, a rare treat after he and a friend had opened it earlier that year. He eased his boat into the water and headed out with six of his closest friends.

About 10:30 p.m. they were cruising in the waters between Interlake and Inlet islands when the boat was struck by a 21-foot Supra, knocking Scott into the water and injuring the other passengers.

The driver of the Supra, Neil Larsen of Bonney Lake, has pleaded not guilty to homicide by watercraft and four counts of assault by watercraft. A jury trial is scheduled for February.

After the crash, court documents state, Larsen stayed at the scene, pulled victims out of the water and transported one to the shore.

According to the court documents, he told police that he had had two drinks and that he hadn’t seen the other boat before the collision.

Mroczkowski said the legal proceedings have been dragging on and she wanted to see the plaque placed to bring a positive note of closure. And with the sign, boaters will be reminded to be responsible on the water.

“There’s rules,” Mroczkowski said. “People don’t have to get killed.”

Brian Everstine: 253-597-8374

brian.everstine@thenewstribune.com