Victim of TriMet bus crash: Danielle Sale, 'an incredibly caring and kind person'

Danielle Nicole Sale was a bright light who danced through life.

"She was an incredibly caring and kind person," said Kathy Agate, an English teacher at Fort Vancouver High School where Sale graduated in 2006. "She was always really positive and friendly. People were drawn to her."

Sale, 22, was one of two women killed Saturday night by a TriMet bus in Northwest Portland. She was with a group of friends, including her boyfriend, Robert Erik Gittings, who is in serious condition at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

Sale grew up in Vancouver in a close-knit family, with her mother and father, Jeannette and David Sale, and three younger siblings, Ashley, Kayla and Joshua.

She went to Discovery Middle School and then Fort Vancouver, where she distinguished herself as an excellent student, caring friend and talented individual.

"She was one of the most outgoing people I've ever worked with," said drama teacher Sean O'Malley. "She was really mature and professional but at the same time she always had fun no matter what was going on."

She was on the softball, volleyball and fire dance teams. She was also a cheerleader and took classes in the Fort Vancouver's medical magnet program.

"She wanted to be well-rounded," said Rachel Pohan, a high school friend. "She wanted to change the world and make it a better place."

Agate, her former Advanced Placement English teacher, remembers one time telling the class that she always had her best ideas in the shower but couldn't write them down in the wet. That Christmas, Sale showed up with a present she insisted Agate open in front of the whole class.

It was a collection of soap crayons made for scribbling in the bath.

"It was sweet and funny," Agate said. "She made it sound like it was from the whole class but I knew it was her."

That's the way Sale was -- bubbly but not a showoff.

After high school she went to Boise State University for a few years, where she met her boyfriend. She returned to Vancouver last year and he came as well, even though he didn't know anyone here.

"He was a puppy dog for Danielle," Pohan said. "It was great to see her treated so well."

Sale was enrolled at Clark College and was studying phlebotomy. "Nobody can imagine that it's our Danielle who is gone," Pohan said.