My oldest daughter Katie died as the result of car accident on Mother's Day 1999, passing away the following day 5/10/99. Katie was on her way home from her boyfriend's house after a night of bowling and good times with her friends when she hit the front of a railroad tunnel that was to be demolished 7 years earlier until a local rails-to-trails organization decided their need to hike was more important than the communities' right to safety. The state of Pennsylvania and the railroad that owns the property have been trying since 1992 to demolish this but this organization has tied it up in the courts. Katie was a freshman at Millersville University and a devout Christian. As a senior in high school she won a scholarship for the highest verbal SAT score and scored 1460 overall. Katie was a pleasure and inspiration to all who knew her. We had no idea of the respect others had of her until her passing, to us she was just our Katie, the big sister and person to confide, converse and ask for advice. Her memorial service marked the largest gathering at her church in its 146 year existence, 99% of the people we had never even met before but Katie meant so much to them, the parking lot was overflowing with people parking as much as a1/4 mile away. To me Katie was the best friend I could ever hope to have. We bonded in an extraordinary way when I took her to a Bob Seager concert in Philly for her 7th birthday, we just sat in the car and talked until there were no more cars in the parking lot even though it was a school night and her mom wasn't real happy that I kept a first grader out so late on a school night. Looking back from that night on we became equals in every way and not just a father-daughter relationship, I would ask her opinion on very important subjects by the time she was thirteen and when family problems would arise I could talk to her and she would listen and offer sound advice I almost always took. Katie assisted in the troubled birth of her little brother when she was 13 we wanted her to witness the birth because she had desires to get into the medical field and Tommy came out so fast the doctor couldn't leave the other patient fast enough and the nurse put Katie to work and luckily they were able to resuscitate her little brother making the little wildman he is today, unfortunately he my not have many memories of the sister that loved him so much. Katie was a blessing that we can only hope to see again in the afterlife.
Drew Fullam
