LYNNWOOD — At Heritage Park on August 30, Support 7 did more than unveil nearly 50 commemorative bricks. It paused to not only thank the people who have carried a quiet, around-the-clock ministry through some of South Snohomish County’s hardest hours but to also honor Lois Gaydos, the widow of founder Chaplain Ken Gaydos, whose behind-the-scenes support helped the work take root more than four decades ago.
The Volunteer Reunion and Commemorative Brick Reveal took place at the Heritage Park with a potluck and special recognition for current and alumni volunteers whose names are etched into the memorial. The bricks honor Support 7 members who have served five or more years in good standing, Support 7 Executive Director Shannon Sessions told the Lynnwood Times.
“These bricks are much more than names engraved in stone,” Sessions said. “They represent decades of compassion, sacrifice, friendship and faithful service. For more than 45 years, volunteers have been willing to show up — often in the middle of the night and during some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable — to care for first responders, victims and families when they need someone most.”
Sessions said she started the brick project in 2019, after Ken Gaydos died in 2018, to commemorate his legacy and the volunteers who answered calls alongside police and firefighters. The effort paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and returned more recently as a permanent way to mark service that is often invisible to the public.
“I wanted a place for us to be able to honor the work and service and commitment of so many regular people who are volunteers, who responded alongside police and firefighters for more than 45 years in our South Snohomish County, responding to our neighbors in some of their darkest moments,” Sessions said.
Among the bricks are markers for Ken and Lois Gaydos. Sessions pointed out Ken’s brick — “Love and legacy, Chaplain Ken Gaydos” — then Lois’s beside it.
“This is the one I want to point out: Lois Gaydos, his wife and widow, right here next to me,” Sessions told the Lynnwood Times who described Lois as a nurse who supported the family through years of around-the-clock calls.
“To be able now, as she’s still living, to honor her support behind the scenes for all these years of him out on calls for 24 hours a day … really means a lot to me,” Sessions added.
Lois Gaydos said Sessions chose “enduring support” for her brick. Standing near the memorial days before what would have marked eight years since his death on Sept. 3, 2018, Lois traced how the ministry began.
When she met Ken, she said, he had just left the Navy and studied radio and television communication, later working in broadcasting, including at CRISTA. He also carried a heart for missions and for people in need. After the couple moved to Washington in 1969, Edmonds Fire Chief Jack Cooper asked Ken to serve as fire department chaplain.
“And my husband said, ‘Well, if I become chaplain of the Edmonds Fire Department, I want to do more than pray cats out of trees,’” Lois recalled. They prayed about it, she said, and he accepted.
According to Support 7’s website, the nonprofit provides 24-hour crisis response, emotional support and family resources in Snohomish County for first responders and community members in need. The nonprofit responds to unexpected natural deaths, suicides, homicides and other fatalities; house and commercial fires; SWAT callouts; and pedestrian vehicle collisions.
Support 7 assists South County Fire and other South County fire and police agencies, plus the South Precinct of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. It’s mobile unit offers a private place with water and snacks for victims and their family members away from weather, onlookers and media, and helps connect them to grief counselors, funeral services and the medical examiner’s office. It also places chaplains with 911 dispatch and the medical examiner’s office.
Lois said the early years were hard because there was no mission board behind them. Ken took part-time jobs. She worked 25 years as a registered nurse at a CRISTA skilled nursing and rehab facility to help support their four children while the ministry grew. Ken recruited chaplains who were believers in Christ, many of them local pastors.
“So, it has grown, and it’s wonderful to see how God has grown Support 7,” she said.
That growth still depends on people who keep showing up. Bob Bell, who now lives in eastern Washington, said he and his wife knew Ken and Lois “forever” and followed Ken’s vision. Bell joined as a volunteer support officer on the coach in 2001, later led traiing for our Incident Response Team (IRT) and development, then served on the board as its President until stepping down in 2023.
“It’s a terrific work. It’s just such a blessing to be involved for 22 years, and very fulfilling,” Bell told the Lynnwood Times.
He described Support 7 as a journey in which people hop on for a season, step aside when they must, and make room for others while the mission continues: “Over the years, you’ve seen people coming and going, but the work continues to move forward, and the future is bright.”
Ron, an incident response team member, said he joined after Sessions visited his church and explained what Support 7 does. Church members already volunteering drew him in until, he said, “they put the fishhook in me.”
Heritage Park was chosen because of Support 7’s ties to Lynnwood, Alderwood Manor and South Snohomish County, Sessions shared.
“This is a particularly meaningful place for these bricks,” she said. “Support 7 is part of the history of this community, and Heritage Park gives us an opportunity to honor the people who helped make that history. It also allows future generations to see the names of ordinary people who chose to do something extraordinary — be there for others when they needed help.”
Asked what she would tell spouses facing loss, Lois said Ken was on hospice about two weeks before he died. She later used grief counseling through Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland and still leans on Scripture — the promise in Hebrews that God will never leave or forsake her.
“Grief…everybody grieves differently, at different times, at different paces,” she said. A song, a smell, a trip to a store Ken loved can still bring it back. “But the years go by, and it does become easier.”
For Support 7, Sunday’s brick dedication was both reunion and reminder: the names in stone belong to neighbors who chose to sit with strangers in crisis, and among them is the widow whose enduring support helped make that choice possible for more than 45 years.
Author: Mario Lotmore
