Officer remembered by students, community

One by one they walked up to the concrete Eastlake High School sign — the exact spot he greeted every one of them with a smile and a wave each morning.

Some laid flowers down.

Others brought balloons.

And nearly all of the 200-plus students who gathered after school Tuesday had stories to share about King County Sheriff’s Deputy Stan Chapin, a resource officer for EHS and Inglewood Junior High whose unexpected death late Monday night stunned the Sammamish community.

“Every day when I’d come to school, he was always there waving,” said senior Amber Cuozzo, who along with friend Marlena Masterleo, organized Tuesday’s remembrance at the entrance to the high school. “It was always a good start to the day.”

Chapin, 61, died peacefully at his Bothell home Monday of what is believed to be natural causes.

The near 40-year veteran of the King County Sheriff’s Office was in his 12th year of working as a resource officer on the Plateau.

“He was there because he genuinely cared about the kids — he wanted to see the kids succeed,” Sammamish Police Chief Nate Elledge said. “This guy was just such a phenomenal officer. He touched the lives of so many students past and present.”

Students reflected on their many fond memories of Chapin on Tuesday afternoon, highlighting everything from his spot-on impersonation of a velociraptor — the screeching dinosaur made famous in the Jurassic Park films — to his ability to remember every student by name.

“Not a lot of teenagers respect authority, but all of us respected him regardless of him being a police officer,” Masterleo said. “I just think it’s really great one person could connect all of us, even though we’re so different.”

Compassion is one trait all students agreed made Chapin so special.

Junior Austin Henderson recalled getting called into Chapin’s office as a sophomore. It was his first and only meeting in the resource officer’s office, but it was all it took to make a new friend. Every time after, Chapin greeted him with a hello and acknowledged him by name.

“One time when I was walking into school, I was kind of having a tough day and he stopped me and talked to me for a while and just made sure everything was OK,” Henderson said. “That really just made my day.”

By the time the final bell rang Tuesday, there were two posters stretched across the main upstairs hallway at Eastlake High School with hundreds of signatures and well-wishes from students and teachers.

But Chapin’s impact still stretched far beyond the walls of EHS and IJH.

Dylan Markley, a 2010 Eastlake graduate, started a Facebook memorial page immediately after he learned the news. By noon Tuesday, there were more than 400 fans and by Wednesday morning more than 2,800 people liked the page.

“Having the page gives everyone a chance to share how much of an impact officer Chapin has had on their lives and what he meant to Eastlake and the community,” said Markley, who is currently in the Explorer program at the Redmond Fire Department.

He said he ran into Chapin three weeks ago and he expressed how happy he was that he was on the path to becoming a public servant.

Over his career, he served as a patrol deputy, detective, and member of the Seattle FBI’s Fugitive Apprehension Team. And just last month, the city named Chapin the Sammamish Police Department’s “Officer of the Year” for 2011.

Chapin, who served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 23 years, was also an avid runner. He competed in track at Seattle University, won the 1974 Seattle marathon, and completed the Boston marathon in 1974, 1976 and 1977.

Many students agreed they were still in shock — a feeling they don’t expect go away anytime soon.

“I don’t know if a lot of people have really had it kick in, but every day when we drive into school, when we’re walking around at lunch, just not seeing him is going to hit hard,” Henderson said.

Masterleo echoed the sentiment.

“The biggest absence is going to be not being there for that friendly hello,” she said. “It always just cheered me up a little bit if he was like ‘Hey Marlena.'”

An official time, date and location for a memorial are still to be determined.

There will be a ceremony during tonight’s Eastlake vs. Skyline girls and boys basketball games. The girls play at 5:30 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m. Officer Chapin was a long-time supporter of the Eastlake basketball programs.

Chapin is survived by his wife Sue, and three children: Christopher, 27; Bethany, 22; and Scott, 17.

Check back for updates on the official memorial service.