Located near Depot Park Museum is a dedicated bench with a plaque nearby that reads:
Glen Ellen native killed in Plumas County wreck
By Neal Ross Index-Tribune Staff Writer
Monday, April 28, 2003 5:31 PM PDT
4/29/03 - A former Sonoma Valley High School homecoming king was one of three people who died this weekend in a car accident in the Plumas National Forest.
He will be remembered Thursday at a service in his hometown of Glen Ellen.
Jake Atkinson, 24, a student at University of California at Santa Cruz, was killed Saturday afternoon when the 2002 Jeep Liberty in which he was riding skidded off a sharp curve and down a 150-foot embankment north of Taylorsville, about 70 miles northeast of Chico, a local CHP spokesman said yesterday.
The Jeep flipped at least once and came to rest on its top in Lights Creek, CHP said. Atkinson, who was riding in the front passenger seat around 2:30 p.m., was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. The driver, Don Luthringer, 50, of Taylorsville, was found dead beneath the Jeep's wreckage by rescue workers.
Luthringer's son, Jason, 23, of Ukiah, was airlifted via helicopter to Indian Valley Hospital in neighboring Greenville, where he died shortly after 6 p.m., CHP said.
The Jeep's fourth passenger, Luthringer's nephew Eric Church, 20, of Sacramento, suffered minor injuries in the crash, CHP said. Church climbed the embankment, contacted some local residents around 3 p.m., who dialed 9-1-1. The Jeep was apparently traveling the speed limit, the CHP said, adding that an investigation into the crash is still under way.
The four were headed back to Luthringer's home after a day spent playing in the snow, CHP said. Atkinson's older brother Nate said that his sibling was in the area on a fishing excursion, visiting the family of his girlfriend of five years, Molly Church, 23.
"Her uncle and her cousin were the other two who died in the vehicle with him," Atkinson said yesterday from the family home in Glen Ellen.
Atkinson described his brother as "a well-liked guy ... just very popular with the community in Sonoma and the community in Santa Cruz," where Jake was enrolled as a history major at the University of California. "He's got a million friends here and there."
The son of Matt and Suzie Atkinson of Glen Ellen, Jake was working as the office manager in a Santa Cruz print shop while attending classes, Nate said, adding that his brother would have been 25 on May 22.
A memorial service will take place at 1 p.m., Thursday, at the Benziger Family Winery, 1883 London Ranch Road, Glen Ellen. Atkinson said that in lieu of flowers, the family will forward donations in Jake's memory to an as-yet-unnamed wildlife conservation fund.
"He was a pretty popular guy around town," Atkinson said. "I wish there was more life of his to talk about."