Spencer’s Stone Was Washed Away During Hurricane Helene, But Was Miraculously Found Four Months Later By a Hiker

By Lorry Mulhern

Spencer Sweeting Klingeman was a soulful, vibrant, and witty young newlywed as she, her husband Derek, and her sister drove away from a day on the slopes of Steamboat Springs., CO, on Dec 21, 2018. The three were returning to the Klingeman’s home in Denver, prepared for a final day of holiday celebrating before Spencer’s sister, Megan, returned to the High Country, where Spencer and Megan had been born and raised, and Derek’s family had a home.

But fate intervened, and along the route down I-70, the evening darkness had made true the term “black ice” on the road, and Derek swerved colliding with an oncoming vehicle.

Megan and Derek suffered severe injuries. Spencer was pronounced dead at the scene.

In March of 2020, Spencer’s family and friends laid an engraved memorial stone dedicated to Spencer at the edge of the Watauga River at Valle Crucis Community Park. And on September 28, 2024, Hurricane Helene’s ravaging flood waters, spilling over the river’s banks dragging along every manner of debris, roared through the park and claimed even more debris as its own, including Spencer’s memorial stone.

On Dec 21, 2024, Sue Sweeting, Spencer’s mother, along with friends and other family gathered at the park to search for Spencer’s stone. On a bitterly cold day a dozen friends and family walked the banks of the creek, using walking sticks and scavenged tree branches to turn up and poke through piles and piles of debris deposited along the river’s banks in search of “Spencer’s stone”. But the memorial stone was not found. 

But then, as if by fate, or a miracle, a visitor to the park happened upon the stone and brought it to the park staff. On January 23^rd, 2025 Sue received a call from Park staff informing her that Spencer’s stone had been found. Park personnel replaced it at the river’s edge.

On April 2nd, friends and family gathered at the park, with champagne and sparklers, once again, to celebrate Spencer’s life, along with the return of her memorial stone to its place on the banks of the Watauga River.