VANCOUVER, Wash. — A Vancouver woman got to meet the two Clackamas County Sheriff's Office employees who helped her when she got lost in the woods.
“It's so nice to put faces to the voices,” said Keenan Grana, after meeting community service officers Carin Sherman and Shari Kundert. “I truly believe they're my angels.”
On Oct. 5, Grana was hiking on the Fish Creek Mountain Trail in Clackamas County, hoping to camp. It was a rare night off for Grana, who works with at-risk kids at Transitional Youth.
“It was almost dark and I realized I was alone and this wasn't what I had planned,” said Grana. “I felt so alone and so scared.”
Grana turned back to head home but soon realized she was lost, cold and could barely move.
“I am not an experienced hiker so my body was saying, 'No, no, no.'"
In a place where cell phones shouldn't have worked, Grana took hers out and said a prayer.
“I kept dialing 911, maybe for 10 full minutes,” said Grana. “I was crying and as soon as Shari and Carin answered, it was like this light came through. I truly believe they’re my angels.”
As community service officers, Kundert and Sherman are part of Clackamas County’s non-sworn staff.
“We're able to do things and go a little bit deeper,” said Sherman. “Like staying on the phone with people for two hours—a patrol officer can't do that.”
The women helped Grana find her latitude and longitude on her iPhone, which they shared with search and rescue crews.
“I was giving the officers updates then they would say, ‘She's going in the right direction, she has one more mile,’” said Kundert.
“It was a team effort all the way around,” said Sherman. “It wasn't just us two.”
For the next two hours, Sherman and Kundert helped guide Grana out of the woods.
“They encouraged me, they prayed with me,” said Grana. “They made me feel like a fighter when I felt like I was so scared to move.”
Sherman and Kundert even got permission to stay two hours after their shift ended, to see Grana through.
“I was thinking, if my daughter had been lost, I would hope that somebody would be on the phone with her like Shari and I were,” said Sherman. “We really care.”
Grana made it out of the woods and met deputies just before midnight.
“I'm so thankful to be safe,” said Grana, who shared many hugs with Sherman and Kundert. After their reunion, the three ladies had dinner together, and Sherman and Kundert said they planned to volunteer with kids at Transitional Youth.
“They just love helping people so much,” Grana said.