The older sister of Michael (the boy who was trapped under a giant boulder for hours) is back in Pacific Beach after more than a week in the hospital.

They answered the call . . . 

Among the responders at the Jan. 17 rescue at Pacific Beach:

District 8: John Collum (chief), Stephanie and John Allestad, Merch DeGrasse, Jim Hatton, Cathi McMurrin, Ralph Rangel, Brian and Kim Shelley, Marla Sun and Jim Sleasman 

District 7: Jim Westby (chief), Pete Criswell, Jeff and Rhonda Minks, Charles Wessner

Ocean Shores Fire Department: John Garner, Joe Hoffman, Steve Rockey

from today’s print edition:

By North Coast News staff

It was a great day.

High near 50, not a cloud in the sky, calm winds. A glorious Saturday.

A wondrous Jan. 17, right around noon . . . 

Chris Keefer was entertaining family visitors, at Seabrook, where he works in construction. Kim Shelley was working in the Seabrook rentals department.

Retired Boeing worker Cathie Bisiack and her husband, home inspector John Collum, were at their Moclips home, getting ready to drive to Tacoma for a surprise birthday party.

Merch DeGrasse, a retired architect, was making lunch at his Pacific Beach home.

Cathi McMurrin, a volunteer paramedic, was at the Fire District 8 station, decorating for a baby shower.

Steve Rockey was at his home in Ocean Shores, enjoying a day off from construction work.

And two sets of siblings, Michael, Cody and Cheyenne Martin and Keisha and Cassidy Bartlett, loaded their backpacks with peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and descended a trail down the dramatic cliff from the Pacific Beach residential area to the beach below. Near the bottom of the trail, they crossed over some old train tracks, then climbed over boulders and smaller rocks set up to hold the tracks in place. A few yards west of the rocks, just past a stretch of grassy dunes, they set up their picnic area on the inviting sand.

Ryan and Marnie Martin, the parents, foreground. Behind Marnie, Cassidy Bartlett, who started the rescue with a phone call, and Michael. Behind Michael, Cathi McMurrin, who comforted him for hours.