There is no very good way to wind this down

Dear all,

Those closest to the family know that we are winding down as we get towards the holidays. Brooke and Karen's respective families are taking care of their estates and dealing with all that that entails. We are all finding new ways to deal with the holiday season that is missing two very special people.

Suffice to say, this blog has been a learning experience for us in how to manage a major life event with so many caring people wanting to be involved. It has allowed us to get in touch, share memories, coordinate memorial services, and to some degree measure what kind of impact Karen and Brooke had on our lives.

At the moment, I don't know how much longer I will continue to update this blog. Though it has been indispensable in coordinating with far flung friends and family, it must have its proper end as well.

This may not be the last post, but then again who knows, it might. Simply put, the blog isn't going anywhere for the foreseeable future, as I envision it as an online memorial to them. But like real-world memorials, it will probably be visited more occasionally around special anniversaries, and when we all feel the need to remember.

Keep in touch, everyone.

The Washington Post Obituaries for Karen and Brooke

You may read the individual obituaries for Karen and Brooke on the Washington Post website.

A colleague and friend of Brookes wrote a nice column on her blog

Carole Sargent, a colleague and friend of Brookes from the National Press Club wrote a lovely entry on her blog. You may read it here.

Memorial service for Karen Dodds (and Brooke) set for DC area on Nov. 10th

The memorial service for Karen Dodds will be Saturday, November 10th, at 11:00 AM, at Church of the Reformation, 212 East Capitol St., NE, Washington.

I will post more details as they become available from Kathleen. As you may have attended the service for Brooke several weeks ago, service is being held primarily in Karen's memory.

There will not be an elaborate reception after this service, though we may have some light refreshments.

In Lieu of Flowers for Karen, please make a donation

The family requests no flowers for Karen's memorial. If you wish to honor Karen and Brooke with a memorial, the family suggests:

For Karen:

• Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America, please click here.
• The Endowment Fund of Lebanon Lutheran Church:
• Lebanon Lutheran ELCA Church
  Attn: "Endowment Fund"
  1101 S. Mears Avenue
  Whitehall, MI 49461
  

For Brooke:

• To donate to Boy Scouts of America, please click here.
• To donate to Conservation International, please click here.
• To donate to the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, please click here.

Karen's funeral has been planned for October 27, 2007 in Whitehall, MI

The State Police found Karen's body on Saturday (Oct. 06, 2007) onshore west of the Mackinac Bridge. The State Police emailed a photo of Karen's diamond ring to Kathleen and she has positively identified it.

Karen's family has planned a funeral service for Saturday, October 27, at Noon, which will include a memorial service for Brooke. It will be followed by a light lunch in the church Fellowship Hall. The church is Lebanon Lutheran Church, 1101 S. Mears Ave., Whitehall, MI.

There are three B&Bs in Whitehall, within walking distance of the church: The Chocolate Cottage, The White Swan and the Finch's Nest. There are two large motels on the outskirts of town: a Ramada and a Best Western.

Interment will be in Rural Hill Cemetery, Northville, MI, the following Monday or Tuesday (we'll let you know).

Karen's family does plan to have a Memorial Service for both Karen and Brooke at Reformation Lutheran Church, 212 East Capitol St. SE, in Washington DC in the near future (we'll let you know).

Even though the MSP stopped searching, area locals did not...

This story is amazing. Even though the MSP stopped searching, area locals did not...

Renewed plane search comes up empty

By MIKE FORNES

Tribune Staff Writer

CHEBOYGAN - An area fisherman's tip led to a renewed search Wednesday for a small plane and its two occupants, missing since late August, but the wreckage was not found.

Chief Marine Deputy Allan May said the fisherman's local knowledge of the area led to the search, conducted during a regular monthly training drill for the Cheboygan County Sheriff's Department Dive Team.

“He fished these waters for a long time and knows the bottom contour well,” May said during a pre-dive briefing for six divers aboard two Sheriff's Department boats. “The fisherman had spotted something on his fish-finder that has not been there in the past; he feels that this is something new to the bottom there.”

The dive teams split into pairs and inspected three sites that May had marked last week with global-positioning co-ordinates. The men were towed behind their boat while holding a tow-bar to pull them along the bottom.

The first target turned out to be a bed of weeds, and the second spot divers said was a large, steep sand bar. The dives were conducted in roughly 50 feet of water between Duncan Point and Cordwood Point. Divers said the temperature of the water was 53 degrees at the surface and slightly colder at depth. Each dive lasted between 15 minutes to 18 minutes.

A third dive attempt failed to produce any targets.

“We didn't see the main object today that I saw last week,” May said. “It had a shape that could have possibly been the tail of a plane, but it's hard to say. That's why we're out here to check on it.”

Choppy seas and strengthening winds made conditions less than ideal for the search, May said. He indicated he would return in the near future to again try to locate the target object identified by the fisherman.

The dive team drills every month of the year and works through various search and rescue scenarios in open water, rivers, and small lakes in all conditions, including ice-covered waters.

A Michigan State Police search for the wreckage was suspended Sept. 17.

The small plane left Mackinac Island with two passengers at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 24 en route to Bad Axe. Reported to be aboard the plane are pilot Karen Dodds, 51, of Washington, D.C. and her passenger and fiance, H. Brooke Stauffer, 55, also of Washington D.C.