Widow of fisherman who was killed in Alaska pleads for entry to U.S. to attend cremation

WASHINGTON STATE — The family of a man who was killed in an accident on a fishing vessel in Alaska last month is hoping for a last-minute opportunity to bring his wife to Washington state to see him before his remains are cremated.

According to Alaska State Troopers, Vincent Short, 36, of Jefferson County, died from a fall on board a boat near Akutan, Alaska on July 30.

In the aftermath of his death, Short’s wife, Adriana Gonzalez, quickly applied for an emergency visa to attend the funeral and cremation services in Washington state but was turned down, according to the family’s lawyer, James Gooding of Injury At Sea, a firm owned by Seattle-based GLP Attorneys.

She missed the funeral that happened just this last weekend, but the cremation is probably going to be in about two weeks,” Gooding told KOMO News. “She’s hoping to get here before then so she can see him one last time and then take his ashes back to Mexico.

Gooding says U.S. authorities also turned down a request for a humanitarian visit to allow Gonzalez to come to Washington.

“The government is basically worried that a Mexican citizen will stay here after they are admitted,” he said. “Adriana has always lived in Mexico; that’s her home. Her whole family is in Mexico. She has three children with Vincent who are in Mexico and are not coming to visit, she would go back to be with them.”

Gooding says their final hope of bringing Gonzalez to the U.S. is through appeals to U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.

“She just wants to be able to see him one last time and put some type of closure to it,” he said.

According to Short’s family, he grew up in Clallam County, became a commercial fisherman in 2011 and met his wife while on a fishing trip through Mexico.

“It was love at first sight; he stayed in Ensenada, and they built a life of love and family,” Short’s obituary states.