Posted on: Thursday, September 16, 2004
Ranger remembered for smile, love of job
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
WAILUKU, Maui — Suzanne "Suzi" E. Roberts aspired to be a park ranger and worked summers at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado for seven years until a full-time position became available.
Photos courtesy National Park Service On Tuesday she became the ninth National Park Service ranger nationwide to die in the line of duty since the early 1970s when she was struck by a falling boulder while clearing rocks from the road in the Ka'apuhu section of the Maui park.
Former colleagues yesterday remembered Roberts, 36, as an energetic, vibrant worker who loved the outdoors. They said she was dedicated to the ideals of the National Park Service and the protection of natural resources.
"She almost always had a smile on her face," said Mark Magnuson, chief ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park. He said Roberts was the classic example of an employee who started at an entry-level position and worked her way up.
All the while, she worked winters at Winter Park Resort, a ski destination south of the Colorado park. She was an expert alpine skier and coach who also taught disabled children to ski. Roberts earned a master's degree in recreation and park administration at the University of Wyoming.
When the Haleakala job opened up in the spring, she jumped at the chance for the full-time position.
"She was very excited to come here," said Dominic Cardea, the Maui park's chief of interpretation.
Roberts made the journey to Hawai'i with her boyfriend, and spent weekends living in Wailuku and weekdays in East Maui close to her job in Kipahulu.
She was traveling in her patrol car to work on Maui's remote Kaupo Coast just before 10 a.m. Tuesday when she discovered rocks on a narrow section of the road. As she was moving the rocks, a boulder at least 2 feet in diameter plunged an estimated 40 feet from the cliffside, crashing down on her head and upper back.
Witnesses used Roberts' patrol car radio to contact the National Park Service Pacific Area Dispatch Center, and paramedics and fire crews tried unsuccessfully to revive her.
"Suzi was doing what rangers do," said her supervisor, district ranger Eric Anderson. "She was making the place safe for others."
While she worked on Maui less than six months, Anderson said he had come to know her as capable ranger who was "full of life."
Flags in the park were lowered to half staff to honor Roberts. She is the first Haleakala ranger to die in the line of duty and the second from Hawai'i in the past five years.
On Dec. 12, 1999, Steve Makuakane-Jarrell, 47, a park ranger at the Big Island's Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park, was shot to death while investigating a complaint about barking dogs. A suspect is awaiting trial.
A National Park Service official said Roberts' name is expected to be inscribed in national law enforcement memorials.
Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.
That job finally opened in April at Haleakala National Park on Maui.
Colleagues said Suzi Roberts was a vibrant, energetic worker who loved her job as a ranger.
She began at Rocky Mountain National Park as a Student Conservation Association resource assistant in the summer of 1995. The next summer she staffed the park's Grand Lake entrance gate, and the following two summers she worked in the park's Interpretation Division. From 1999 to earlier this year, she was a seasonal law enforcement ranger.
Ranger Suzanne Roberts was clearing rocks on this stretch of road when she was killed by a boulder that fell 40 feet from the cliffside.
