Even after her back gave up and she started using a motorized wheelchair, Bertha Kelly welcomed her son into her lap.
John Paul Kelly, 48, was developmentally disabled and lived in an adult care facility. When he visited his 66-year-old mother, they often took a MAX train to the farmer's market at the Gresham Kmart, neighbors said. "He liked to jump in her lap when he was happy," said Terra Schaller, who lived two doors down from Bertha Kelly at an East Portland apartment complex. "That's just what John Paul did. He liked going for a ride on her wheelchair."
At 11:25 a.m. Saturday, Bertha and John Paul were headed to the Kmart when they exited an eastbound Blue Line train at the Gresham City Hall MAX station.
After moving under the shelter at mid-platform, he reportedly sat on his mother's lap and accidentally hit her wheelchair's toggle controller, propelling them both into the gap between two coupled MAX cars as the train rolled away from the station, TriMet said.
The platform has a three-foot drop onto the tracks.
Bertha Kelly died at the scene. John Paul Kelly died about two hours later at a local hospital, authorities said.
Schaller said Bertha Kelly's next door neighbor and best friend, Sue, was tagging along and on the MAX platform. Sue told neighbors that she reached out and tried to stop the wheelchair as it lurched forward, according to Schaller.
"She watched her best friend die today," she said, nodding grimly toward apartment 107. Bertha lived in No. 108. A hill of flowers and burning candles waited for her to come home.
"They were always doing things together," Schaller said. "Sue told me. She didn't want me to hear it from anybody else."
Bertha, who shared her apartment with three cats and a tarantula, was a retired nurse. Neighbors said she enjoyed puzzles and long conversations.
James Kelly, her grandson, said she was constantly in high spirits, always trying to help people, always volunteering for different causes. The conversation was brief. He said he had a hard time speaking through the shock of his grandmother's death.
James Kelly said his grandmother, who was widowed, started a using a wheelchair after severe back pain made it difficult for her to walk. John Paul, he said, "was her prized possession."
James Kelly said his uncle had Down syndrome. However, Schaller said Bertha Kelly told her that John Paul was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, which cut off oxygen to his brain and left him with severe developmental disabilities.
She left behind another son, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, he said.
The operator of the MAX train that killed Kelly and her son was initially unaware of the collision at Gresham City Hall and continued down the line, TriMet said.
"The operator reports that they were not aware of what had happened possibly until reaching the next station," said TriMet spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt.
Altstadt said it's not clear how the operator was notified of the incident. He may not have learned that the train hit two people until pulling into the
, one stop to the east, she said.
Gresham police are leading the investigation.
The investigation caused several hours of Blue Line service disruptions in Gresham. Shuttle buses were serving stations between the East 197th Avenue and Cleveland Avenue stations. Shortly before 4:30 p.m., the Blue Line returned to normal service.
"Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and loved ones of those affected and to our operator," TriMet said in a statement.
It was the second fatal crash involving a MAX train in less than two weeks. On Aug. 7, a man died after he reportedly walked in front of an eastbound train and was struck at East Burnside Street and 122nd Avenue.
Saturday's incident is TriMet's worst tragedy since 2010, when bus driver Sandi Day made an illegal left turn and hit four pedestrians in Portland, killing two and critically injuring a third. There is no indication that operator error play a role in Saturday's collision.
The deaths of Bertha Kelly and her son come nine days after a
A man has died after being struck by an eastbound MAX train at about 10:43 a.m. Thursday.
The incident happened at East Burnside Street and 122nd Avenue.
Altstadt said TriMet does not plan to release information about the man who was operating the train, including age and experience.
The apartment building where Kelly lived is located two blocks from where the MAX tracks run along East Burnside Street. As neighbors gathered in an open walkway, sharing hugs and wiping away tears under a twilight sky, the smell of a fresh-baked apple pie drifted from Schaller's open door.
"It's for Sue," she said. "I know her heart is broken. We're all going to miss Bertha. Such a sweet, sweet lady."
-- Joseph Rose