Kate Elizabeth Svitek July 1979 - February 9th, 2002

Kate Elizabeth Svitek July 1979 - February 9th, 2002

I couldn’t figure out why today has been so horrible.
It was rough getting up, a struggle at the gym and the
clock could not have moved any slower at work. I could not
tell you why it was such a terrible day to save my life.
Sitting at home with a bottle of wine, some sappy music
and my ibook is hardly my traditional Thursday night.
Normally, I’d be out with Erin or doing something crazy with
Albright. Maybe I would be on a date with someone. Who knows?
Not tonight. I’m a pretty happy person and things
are going my way, for the most part, but not tonight.

Tonight is about something bigger then myself.
Tonight is about Katie, wherever she may be.


Kate:

Where do I start? I grew up with Katie, my cousin.
Six months older than me, Katie always seemed to be two
steps ahead. While Katie and I always shared ambition,
it was not necessarily a common one. As I was busy climbing
ladders and swinging from lighting grids in the TV studio,
Katie was busy climbing Mount Rainier and setting up tent.
She loved the outdoors and appreciated nature,
whereas I loved my hair dryer and appreciated a great
Indie Band. What can I say, we were different.
I always respected and admired her.
It takes such a tremendous amount of focus and
determination to summit some of these mountains.

Every time I came home for the holidays I would see her
at the end of my driveway in her red SUV. She would
roll down her window and say “Hey stranger.” A comment about
the current color of my hair always followed the salutation,
without fail!





In the Mean Time:
(February 2002)

In Boston, I was doing the whole school thing,
working at Brookline Access Television,
ridding on the back of my boyfriend’s
(now ex-boyfriend) bike. Not giving so much
as a thought to the rest of the world. I was in love and
having fun. Graduation was upon me and I had
the rest of my life to think about.

It all changed with one phone call. I can’t
even remember the entire conversation. In short
my mother explained to me that Katie, the girl I
grew up with, the girl who lived around the corner
from me, the girl I spent nearly every holiday
with…was missing. Her parent’s Ellen and Frank
along with her brother Michael were in route to Bend,
Oregon where Katie had last been seen. The police were
investigating, and found that her car was still in the lot.
That was all they knew. She had been working on
Mt. Bachelor and had taken a quick run down the slopes on
her new snowboard before starting work.
She never reported in.

For the next two weeks, I sat glued to my computer and partially
attached to the TV. Watching updates on the net and getting
phone calls from home. Ellen and Frank were on MSNBC Today,
telling Katie Couric and Matt Lauer that their little girl had vanished
hundreds of miles away on some snowy mountain.

Not long after the interview on NBC, the search for
Katie was called off. A memorial service was set
for a few days later. Without hesitation, I took
the first flight from Boston’s Logan Airport back
home to Philly.



The Trip home:

I was numb the entire flight home.
The moment I saw my mother she grabbed me and
started to cry. She held me so tight that
I could hardly breathe. Of course not but two seconds later
I was in tears myself. I wonder if all mothers and daughters
are this way.

There we were, holding each other and crying
uncontrollably in the middle of the baggage
claim of Philadelphia International Airport.
We were attracting a crowd and at least a few
strange glances. Frankly I didn't give a ****
who saw us, or what they thought.

When we were able to move, we headed towards
the car and immediately drove to the farm.
I walked in the door and hadn’t even taken off
my coat when my great uncle Bob (Katie’s Grandfather)
ran over. Bob, one of the strongest
men I’ve known, threw his arms around me in
tears and said:

“I don’t have a granddaughter. Will you be
my granddaughter? I don’t have one anymore.”

The following day, they held the memorial service
and it is still a little hard for me to share,
so I will come back to this.

The Accident:

Not nearly one day after returning to Boston,
I received word that Katie had been found.
Some of the snow on the mountain had melted and something
reflective caught the attention of one of the patrolling
security officers. That light was the sun hitting
the end of a snowboard.

It takes 4 years to graduate high school, 4 years to
graduate college, numerous months (in some cases years)
to find a job etc. In a matter of minutes, seconds
really…all of that can just…perish.

Katie had “caught an edge” and slid into a tree well head first.
This well was nearly six feet deep. The impact caused an avalanche
and Katie suffocated. Within approximately 15 minutes,
that girl I knew, had died.

An Unhappy Ending:

So I’m still out there braving the concrete jungle
and still trying to break the glass ceiling.
I’m wondering where you are and what you would be doing
if you were here. So tonight is yours Katie.
True to form, you’re two steps ahead of me.
Missing you…