> ADDITIONAL STORIES

A Thanksgiving To Never Forget!
by Raye Lea Beardslee

Thanksgiving is a big family get-together - A time our family reflects on our many blessings and how truly thankful we are; a reflection on past memories but also excitement about what everybody will be doing in the future. Lots of food, laughter and good feelings. Thanksgiving of 1993 changed everything.

Tuesday night, about 10:30 p.m., the Highway Patrol knocked on our door to tell us our beautiful 25-year-old daughter, Kelly, had been killed about 5:30 p.m. on Interstate Highway 35 in Norman, Oklahoma - the result of a DUI crash.

Our first reaction was denial. They have made a mistake. Someone else must have been driving her car. No drunks are on the Interstate in the 5:30 p.m. rush hour traffic. We wanted to go immediately to help, hold, touch ...anything, and were told it was too late. We made the phone calls and did the screaming and crying, then got in the car to drive to Norman.

We first went to get her belongings from the impounded vehicle. Her little Mazda looked like a crushed toy. And there in the back seat on the floor, I picked up her bent and broken glasses. We went to her apartment to get her dog and make plans. We called the morgue at first light and told them absolutely no autopsy. They said it had already been done and that her body would be driven to Wichita to the funeral home of our choice. We decided where our family would be buried and then we went to the closet to pick our clothes for our daughter to wear for the last time.

We drove back to Wichita and finally got to be with her - to hold her and tell her good bye. On Thanksgiving Day, 1993, we picked out a casket, planned a funeral, and tried to be thankful and tried to remember past Thanksgivings, knowing there would always be an empty chair at Thanksgiving for the rest of our lives.

Kelly was in Norman, Oklahoma, in her final year of law school - second in her class. She wrote for the Law Review, did research for a professor, worked at the school's criminal defense clinic, was a member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and worked part-time for a lawyer in Oklahoma City. She had many friends at school and they would miss seeing that beautiful smile and flowing hair come across campus.

Kelly had a mother; a father; a sister, Casey, who was her best friend; grandparents; aunts; uncles; cousins - all who will never have a Thanksgiving again without missing her.

All our tears are always for Kelly's loss. She worked so very hard and she just loved life and people. She deserved to receive some of the joys life offers. We loved her very much.

Be especially thankful over the holidays for the blessings in your lives. For most people, the blessings far outweigh the small problems. Some people spend their holidays at the cemetery, and the only thing they can hug is a picture.

DUI Victim Center of Kansas•355 N. Waco, Suite 220•Wichita, KS 67202•316.262.1673

KANSAS HELPLINE:
1.800.873.6957