Eugene memorial run marks one year since Sharon Schuman’s death

A gentle run/walk brought Sharon Schuman’s family, friends and supporters back to the Amazon Trail site in south Eugene, exactly one year after the 79-year-old was struck and killed while running there.

Schuman’s family organized the Thursday morning gathering at the crash location, with remarks from family and friends at 9 a.m. and a run/walk set for 9:30 a.m. The memorial was meant to mark the anniversary of her death on April 23, 2025, while also giving the community a chance to remember a woman widely known in Eugene as a concert violinist, retired University of Oregon professor and community activist.

Participants were invited to donate to causes Schuman cared about, including Chamber Music Amici, SquareOne Community Villages and the Fanconi Cancer Foundation. The remembrance came as family and friends continued to carry the loss at the same trail where Schuman had been a familiar presence for decades.

The memorial also followed a major legal development in the case. Scott Shawn Stolarczyk was convicted April 2 of second-degree manslaughter and DUII in Lane County Circuit Court. He was sentenced April 8 to six years and three months in prison, three years of supervised release and permanent revocation of his driver’s license.

Police said Stolarczyk lost control in the 2500 block of Amazon Parkway, drove over the curb and through the grass, and struck Schuman on the trail. Lane County Sheriff’s Office deputies later took him into custody after the jury returned its verdict. Earlier reporting said his blood alcohol content was 0.196% about 40 minutes after the crash.

The site itself sits along Eugene’s Amazon Active Transportation Corridor, a project the city says was in development since 2012 and completed in 2019. The Amazon Path is a 12-foot concrete path that links into the broader ridgeline-to-river connection. Schuman had been running there since it opened in 1983, making the trail a long part of her daily life before the crash ended it.

The anniversary gathering underscored how the case has moved from courtroom to memory, even as the place where Schuman died remains an ordinary neighborhood route for runners and walkers. For many in Eugene, the memorial was both a personal farewell and a reminder of how quickly a familiar path can become the scene of a fatal crash.