Man's family invites driver to service

Gavin Coffee had held a number of jobs since graduating from college 20 years ago — fundraising for public television, working at a pathology lab, doing information-technology work for a Redmond company.

But his favorite work was with his church. And he loved working with teens. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for boys from his Seattle church, City Calvary Chapel, to call for homework help, or to show up for late-night board-game tournaments.

And the 43-year-old Lake Forest Park father of four always had time to help his own children with homework, smother them with hugs, or coach soccer.

Even so, his wife, Heidi, said she holds no ill feelings toward Brian Campbell, the 21-year-old Everett man whose allegedly unsecured load came off his pickup Friday on Interstate 5 in Shoreline, causing a chain-reaction crash that killed her husband.

In fact, Coffee's family has invited Campbell to Saturday's memorial service.

"Gavin had this great saying, 'Holding a grudge is like taking poison and waiting for someone to die,' " she said Tuesday while surrounded by family and friends in the living room of her home.

"I don't have any regrets. We expressed how much we loved each other. We lived life to the fullest we could."

State troopers said Gavin Coffee probably died instantly when he swerved his Honda Civic to avoid a piece of falling debris from the pickup and his car was T-boned by a Lincoln Town Car.

King County prosecutors are still weighing whether to charge Campbell under a new state law that makes it a misdemeanor to fail to secure a load that comes loose and injures someone. He posted bail a few hours after the crash and remains free.

Pastor John Aydelott of the City Calvary Chapel was talking to Coffee on Coffee's cellphone when he heard him yell, "Whoa! Whoa!" Then came the sound of metal crunching.

The cellphone connection was still live, and Aydelott could hear witnesses try to pull Coffee from his car. Aydelott prayed, and yelled for someone to pick up the phone, but he heard someone say, "He's not going to make it."

Eventually, Aydelott hung up and called Heidi Coffee, who is five months pregnant. Together they searched for Gavin Coffee until they ended up at the crash scene.

They recognized Coffee's Honda. A state trooper told them the driver had died.

On Tuesday, Heidi Coffee said she doesn't want the Everett man "to be blaming himself all his life" for the crash.

"It was one of those freaky things that happened," she said.

Coincidentally, Campbell attends the Calvary Fellowship church in Mountlake Terrace, where Coffee's memorial service will be held. Coffee used to attend the church, too, though the two didn't know each other.

Campbell's grandfather, who lives in Lake Forest Park, said Tuesday his family is "having a tough time."

"My grandson is a good Christian boy," he said, adding that Campbell plans to become a youth pastor. "He's got a lot of faith."

He cried when told that his grandson had been invited to the memorial.

"It makes me feel good," he said. "But it hurts like hell to make me think about it. It's pretty wonderful for them to extend an invitation."

He said he didn't know whether Campbell would attend.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com