Police have identified the victim in the Aug. 16 drowning on the Pudding River — the result of an apparent kayaking accident.
Shawna Schipporeit Fleck, 58, was kayaking with her husband Sunday evening near the Pat’s Acres Racing Complex on South Arndt Road, when the couple was separated.
Sgt. Marcus Mendoza, spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, said police responded to the scene at approximately 6:15 p.m. when a 911 caller reported seeing a man “yelling that his wife had drowned.”
Members of the Clackamas County Water Rescue Consortium responded, as did the Canby Fire District and Clackamas Fire. Paramedics attempted all possible resuscitation and advanced life support measures, but to no avail.
Mendoza said Fleck had been drinking and was not wearing a life jacket. Her husband reportedly found her submerged in the river after the two had been separated. “He pulled her from the river, attempted to revive her and yelled for help,” Mendoza said.
The case is not considered suspicious, he said, and there is no active investigation.
According to an obituary posted by family online, Shawna Schipporeit Fleck grew up in Woodburn and earned a degree in animal science from Oregon State University and one for nursing from Linfield College.
She was an exchange student in Europe and also spent time living with indigenous people in Australia as part of her practical nursing education. During her nursing career, she did everything from delivering babies to providing home health care for the elderly, even caring for her own father during a long illness.
She married Dale Fleck at Pat’s Acres in 1995. They raised a daughter and three sons.
She was a lifelong person of faith and a longtime member of a Bible study at Canby Christian Church. She enjoyed the outdoors, camping, crabbing, fishing, gardening and spending time with her family.
A celebration of life is being planned for family members in late September. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital “in salute to the passionate caring that defined Shawna’s life.”
