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Washington State Patrol Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting was a relentless and infectious source of positivity and kindness, opening her heart to friends, strangers and animals, Guting's family and friends said at a Saturday afternoon memorial service.
Like Stitch from the Disney movie “Lilo & Stitch,” Guting was “small but strong, gentle but fierce, loving but unafraid to be a little wild,” her sister Shannen Tanaka said.
The character was one of Guting’s favorites and stuffed versions of Stitch stood near the stage during the memorial service.
Guting was struck and killed on a Tacoma highway Dec. 19 when she was standing outside her patrol car investigating a two-vehicle collision on southbound Highway 509 around 7:30 p.m., according to the State Patrol.
A driver whose vehicle initially hit the trooper stopped and cooperated with police. Police are asking the public’s help to locate the driver of a pickup that subsequently struck Guting. Tacoma police announced Tuesday that they had found and impounded the pickup.
Members of several local law enforcement agencies and Guting’s loved ones gathered Saturday afternoon at Life Center Central Campus, a Christian church in Tacoma, to celebrate her life. The State Patrol honor guard and other law enforcement members performed a formal procession, invocation and flag folding during the event.
Near the stage also stood photos of Guting with her family — one showing her husband and her and their four pets in matching pajamas in front of a Christmas tree.
Guting’s husband, Timothy, is a deputy state fire marshal at the state Fire Training Academy. They married in 2019 in Honolulu, where Guting was born and raised, and moved to Washington shortly after.
Patrol Trooper Harison Klever, who worked with Guting for two years when they were fresh out of training, shared a story exemplifying Guting’s kindness.
Klever said that once, Guting had been responding to someone whose car needed to be towed because it had gotten stuck in a dangerous position. When Guting explained to the man that he would be able to retrieve the car after it was impounded, the man said he had no money to pay the fee and would lose his job without it.
With neither hesitation nor “a single selfish spot in her head,” Klever said Guting pulled out her wallet and paid the stranger’s tow fee “right then and there.”
When he asked her why she did it, Guting shrugged and said it was the right thing to do. Guting’s positivity was also on display at work, where she seemed to bring in snacks and gifts every other day just to spread joy, he said.
“In my 30 years, I cannot think of somebody that was more upbeat and with such a good attitude. … Her attitude was infectious, and it just spread like wildfire through everybody that she worked with,” Klever said.
In high school in Mililani, Hawai’i, Guting trained in judo and was a competitive wrestler. After graduating, Guting served in the Army National Guard for eight years as a signals intelligence analyst. Guting joined the State Patrol in January 2024, fulfilling a “lifelong dream” to be in law enforcement and serve and protect others, her sister Tanaka said.
Tanaka said her “why” was to “change the face of law enforcement, turning all the negativity into something positive.”
“Tara never sought recognition or the spotlight. She believed the most meaningful good is done without an audience,” she said.
Outside work, Tanaka said Guting enjoyed fishing, playing video games with her brother and friends, crocheting and taking care of her four “fur babies.”
Lily Guerrero said Guting coaxed her into talking one evening when Guting, then a stranger, approached her asking why she was hiding away. Guerrero said at the time she was “a soldier fresh out of basic with no friends as an adult and extremely introverted” and terrified of meeting Guting.
When Guting shared that she didn’t like crowds either, “something shifted” and the two struck up a friendship. They wandered around markets, played board and video games, read books, tried chocolates and “somehow always talked about getting more dogs, cats or fish,” Guerrero said.
Guting is the 34th trooper lost in the line of duty in Washington, 25 of them after being hit by a vehicle, colliding with another vehicle or losing control of their own vehicle.
