Denis Tri, aviator, & Tricia Goken, script supervisor for "Alias" (car crash)
deb...@comcast.net
Friends, family gather to honor life of aviator
by Brian Seraile
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
A cold rain fell on Monday as more than 350 people gathered at St.
Nicholas Chapel for a memorial service to celebrate the lives of Lt.
Cmdr. Denis Tri and his fiancé, Tricia Goken.
The couple died Jan. 29 when the car they were in hit a patch of black
ice and slid into the path of an oncoming pickup truck.
Tri, whose call sign was Itchy, served as Vice Adm. Walter Massenburg's
Flag Lieutenant, and was remembered as an aviator, a patriot, a team
player and a friend.
"He was the kind of man we love to be around, the kind who makes a
difference, and we are grateful for this opportunity to pause and
remember him," said NAVAIR Cmdr. Massenburg.
Tri graduated with distinction from Test Pilot School in 1999, Class
114. He was a staff instructor there in 2002. During his career, he
accumulated more than 1,800 flight hours in 35 types of aircraft,
logging more than 350 carrier landings and some 30 combat missions.
Goken was a script supervisor on several feature films, television
shows and commercials. She worked with the television show "Felicity,"
and the producer asked her to work on a then-developing show called
"Alias." Goken worked for "Alias" until February 2004. The Feb. 9
episode of that show was dedicated "In Loving Memory of Tricia K. Goken
1969-2005."
After Goken moved to the county last spring, the couple began
remodeling their house on Solomons.
Massenburg said many Solomons Island residents may recall seeing them
in their "poor man's rickshaw," a converted, three-wheel bicycle with a
plastic lawn chair attached, with Goken in the back waving to
passersby.
"Together, they made the mundane fun and squeezed every ounce of living
out of every aspect of life," Massenburg said.
"They were a team within TPS that was really quite a sight," said Test
Pilot School commanding officer Lt. Col. Steven Kihara. "The breadth
and depth of their experiences was amazing. I think there are a
thousand Itchy and Trish stories, and all of them center on yet another
way of doing the ordinary in extraordinary ways."
Kihara recalled what Tri said when asked whether he got a good deal on
his house on Solomons.
"Oh yeah, really good deal," Kihara recalled him saying. "I just spent
a lot of money on this great place that only needs the plumbing,
electrical and structure rebuilt."
Kihara recalled what he saw when he went to the house the next day.
"There was Itchy and Trish with wrecking bars, a construction dumpster,
a lot of plaster and two of the biggest smiles you could ever imagine."
Friends of Tri recalled how much he loved to fish and would, before
releasing a catch, blow into the fish's mouth.
"My daughter still thinks Uncle Denis liked to kiss fish," recalled
Patrick and Krissy Dean, a couple who Tri lived with for 18 months.
Massenburg said it was Tri's way of showing appreciation for having had
the experience, and a small gesture of kindness.
"It's also a metaphor for the way Denis breathed life into every one of
us, and has now let us go to live out our dreams just as he would were
he still with us," Massenburg said.
"I needed Itchy, but God must have need him more," Massenburg said. "We
all needed Itchy and Trish, but God must have needed them more. I loved
Itchy, but God must have loved him more. We all loved Itchy and Trish.
God just loved them more."
On the altar were a helmet, an American flag, and two wreaths of red,
white and blue flowers. There were also many childhood photos of Tri,
and pictures of the couple together.
Two Valentine's Day hearts were attached to a note from Goken's
7-year-old nephew that read, "I love you Auntie Dish + Uncle Denis!"
Tri's parents, three sisters and a brother attended the memorial, and
Tri's mother, Dolores, thanked her son's Navy family and friends.
"You are the true blessing," she said. "Denis wanted to experience the
world, and he did."