Soquel Creek Water district honors dive boat fire victim with memorial garden

SOQUEL, Calif. (KION) Thirty-four people died in September 2019 when the Conception dive boat caught fire and sank off the coast of Santa Barbara County, and several of them were Central Coast residents.

One of them, Vaidehi Campbell Williams, worked for the Soquel Creek Water District for more than 18 years. To honor her memory, the district said it created a memorial garden.

The Vaidehi Campbell Williams Memorial Garden was planted and landscaped by her friends, family and coworkers on Earth Day at Soquel Drive and Rosedale Avenue.

"Vaidehi Campbell Williams... continues to be immensely missed by her colleagues, by the community she served, and most of all by her family. In honor of Vai's memory, the District, Ecology Action, and the Water Conservation Coalition of Santa Cruz County created a memorial garden. It is a tribute to Vai's sparkling energy, her exuberance for the District's mission to protect local water resources, her passion for all things environmental, and her kind soul... Vai was a strong believer in living her life every day as Earth Day," the district wrote in a statement.

Williams was the communications specialist for the district, and it said she was known as the "Water Princess" to many local elementary school students.