ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 23, 1996 TAG: 9601230034
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Beth Macy
SOURCE: BETH MACY
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on January 24, 1996.
A photo caption on the front of Tuesday's Extra section gave an
incorrect figure for the gap between the births of Katie George and her
twin, Emily. It should have said Katie was six minutes older.
Debbie and Scott George had a typical American family: two working parents, five children and seven very hectic schedules.
``You know how it is when you work and have all these demands,'' Debbie George says. ``The only thing you want to do is get out of town, go on vacation and be together as a family.''
Debbie remembers the anticipation leading up to her family's vacation last June. Her daughter Katie - one of identical-twin girls - was so excited about the trip to Disneyworld that she'd drawn a picture of the family's van en route to Florida.
In the picture, Katie's dad, Scott George, drove the family's gray-brown van. The kids sat in the back with big smiles on their faces. The sun shone down upon the van, the V-shaped birds flew above. A bunny perched on the side of the road.
``It was the last picture she drew,'' her mother says, her voice beginning to crack.
Katie George died the morning of June 17 after the family's van wrecked on a South Carolina highway and was subsequently struck from behind by a tractor-trailer. She was 8 years old.
Debbie George can remember reading about senseless tragedies before the accident and wondering how a family could possibly survive.
``It's so hard not to have her here,'' she says, seven months after her daughter's funeral. ``Sometimes I think she's going to walk through the door any minute and other times it's like it's been forever since we've seen her.
``The hardest thing is when someone asks, `How are you doing?' You don't want to say, `Terrible. She's the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.'''
She's searching now for a way to remember her daughter without remembering the nightmare of June 17. ``She was such a sweet little girl. I just hate to think that she's gone and that's that.''
Like many people in the Georges' circle of friends, the Rev. Chip Gunsten struggled with the news of Katie's death. Pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church, Gunsten shared a back fence with the family in their North Roanoke County neighborhood. His daughter Anna played regularly with the twins.
``The family has been very active in terms of the school, the community and participating and coaching parks-and-rec teams,'' he says. ``They're a highly respected family, just real neat folks.''
Gunsten sensed a need for the neighborhood to do something to honor Katie's memory. ``To somehow make something good come out of a senseless tragedy,'' as he puts it. ``To respond in a helpful and hopeful way.''
He was on vacation with his own family late last summer when the idea occurred to him: to build the Katie George Memorial Track. The design calls for a competition-quality oval track to be built behind Mountain View Elementary for use by school or rec groups, connected to a walking/jogging loop to be used by the community.
``I was looking for a project that would serve not only the school but also individuals and families,'' Gunsten says. ``In terms of recreation and athletics, those are significant parts of the George family's life as well as Katie's.''
So far Gunsten and other volunteers have raised $12,000 from individuals and corporations toward the $40,000 track.
While the Gunstens and Georges have different religious beliefs, ``What we hold in common is far more important than our differences,'' Gunsten says.
``In the midst of the real joys and tragedies of life, that becomes real visible.''
Katie's obituary read like a yearbook's list of extracurricular activities: A second-grader at Mountain View Elementary School, she was an avid swimmer and played rec-league soccer and softball. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Her mother's account fills in where the list leaves off: ``She was the mouth of the two'' twins, Debbie George recalls - the first to get in the dentist's chair, the first to get her hair cut, the first to get her shots at the doctor's office.
Six minutes older than her twin, Emily, Katie always said the oldest goes first. ``She looked out for Emily,'' Debbie says.
Debbie George doesn't mean to brag or pick favorites. She just finds it hard to articulate her daughter's goodness without gushing - proudly and tearfully.
Before her last Christmas, when Katie was asked to record her wish list in her school journal, she didn't ask for toys. Nor did she ask for clothes.
``All I want for Christmas is for my brother Kyle to be able to talk,'' she wrote of her 5-year-old brother, who had been diagnosed with autism.
Later, when the teacher asked the class to recall their favorite Christmas gifts for their journals, Katie wrote: ``The thing I am most grateful for is my family.''
Not long after Katie's funeral, Debbie George ran across a booklet Katie had made for her - full of mother-daughter pictures glued to construction paper. ``When you flipped it over on the back, she'd written, `I don't want to go to college, and I'm never going to get married - because I don't want to leave you, Mom,' '' Debbie recalls.
She signed her letter: ``Love, your doter Katie.''
Donations to the Katie George Memorial Track Fund can be sent to Mountain View Elementary, 5901 Plantation Circle N.E., Roanoke, Va. 24019.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Six months older than her twin, Emily, Katie Georgeby CNB(left) was known for her intrepid spirit and for looking after her
sister.