Sundseth Anderson Funeral Home

Handwritten in tidy printing, with the sort of smiley face used in texting, it was a sweet 12-year-old’s expression of gratitude.“I am writing this to you to tell you how thankful I am. I know I don’t always act like I am, but I am,” the Marysville girl wrote on Nov. 22, 2012. She thanked her parents for her home, for food and friends. It ends: “You have raised me good. So thank you. I love you! Happy Thanksgiving!”What was then an unexpected gesture is now an irreplaceable gift. The note is a lasting remembrance, in Gia’s words, of a girl senselessly taken from her parents, Bryan and Susan Soriano, her 10-year-old brother, Anthony, and all who loved her.Gia Christine Soriano, 14, died Oct. 26 at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett from injuries suffered in the Oct. 24 shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School.In an interview Monday, her mother had a single word for the acts of Jaylen Fryberg, 15, whose gunfire also claimed the lives of 14-year-olds Zoe Galasso and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit and 15-year-old Andrew Fryberg, and injured Nate Hatch, 15. The shooter took his own life. “Unimaginable,” Susan Soriano said.Today, the Soriano family is sharing their gratitude. Gia’s family wants to acknowledge the outpouring of love, concern and generosity they have experienced since the tragedy.“Our hearts are heavy with sadness and grief, but we would like to thank everyone who has helped us through this tragic loss of our beautiful Gia,” the family said in a written statement shared Monday by Susan Soriano and her sister-in-law, Gia’s aunt, Gay Soriano. They wanted their message shared on Thanksgiving.“Gia was an extraordinary young lady, and through her gorgeous smile and her kind words, she radiated sunshine in everyone’s eyes. She brought love and happiness to so many lives,” the statement said.Bryan Soriano, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, is the youngest of six children of Everett’s John and Elaine Soriano. He and his wife are Everett High School graduates with deep roots in the city. Along with her paternal grandparen...