You will be forever on my mind. Always in my 
.
Full of joy and sharing it freely. . .
Kind, witty, and wise. . .
Category Archives: AnnaLeah and Mary
How many families are feeling the loss of loved ones this Christmas because of preventable underride?
How many families are feeling the loss of loved ones this Christmas because of preventable underride? How many more must die before we solve this problem once and for all?
This Year & Last Year…Before & After
Existence and perception sometimes seems to have a line of demarcation [May 4, 2013]. Nothing will restore it to what it was. I have to work harder to pay attention to and be involved in the new memories–to embrace the good in the after so that it does not get lost in the longing for the before.
Mary Lydia Karth, you will not be forgotten. Forever 13. August 6, 1999 – May 8, 2013
Mary Lydia Karth. Forever 13. August 6, 1999 – May 8, 2013
Sharing this post full of videos because I don’t want Mary to be forgotten: Every Day’s A Holiday With Mary; Joyful Memories of Mary
Every memory is both sweet & bitter. So full of life! Oh, my heart breaks for her lost years. <3
A compelling look at Death By Underride from Cool Breeze Studio
Lois Durso & I were privileged to meet with Michael Hawkins (Cool Breeze Studio) last week at his studio in South Carolina to begin work on some underride video productions. Mike just finished this short look at Death By Underride.
In memory of Roya, AnnaLeah & Mary and the countless other victims of underride
With the hope that countless other people will be spared a similar fate
Sign the STOP Underrides! Petition here: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!
Glimpses of 13-year old Mary’s hopes & dreams — from a letter she wrote to herself 2 weeks before she died
Glimpses of 13-year old Mary Lydia Karth — her questions, hopes, & dreams — from a letter she wrote to herself two weeks before she died from truck underride. 
She also wrote: “I hope . . . I’m living every day like it’s my last.”
You were, Mary — so full of joie de vivre. Missin’ you.
Mary models a wedding dress Mary had fun modeling Rebekah’s wedding dress as it was sewed step-by-step…she will never wear her own.
AnnaLeah Karth: Precious one gone too soon; we remember you on your birth day.
AnnaLeah Karth: Precious one gone too soon; we remember you on your birth day, when we welcomed you into this world. May 15, 1995 – May 4, 2013
(After putting together this list of videos which capture memories of our birthday girl, I realize again how intertwined AnnaLeah’s and Mary’s lives were. The youngest two sisters of nine siblings.)
AnnaLeah Photo Memorial Slideshow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-dUs0gKAT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BIpdLAPxb4
It is well with my soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMPmNsvL33Q
Particularly poignant photos of AnnaLeah, Mary, & another young girl, Bethany, having water balloon fun on July 30, 2007. What makes it heart-wrenching is that, within 6 short years, they would all lose their lives in crashes. See more of their stories here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2mDYj-SS1o
Camp Concordia 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfG33KjoUnY
Moments (30 seconds) with AnnaLeah and Mary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyYIWaipo7w
A Day at the Beach with AnnaLeah & Mary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPHoPQugCvk
AnnaLeah & Mary; A Short Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mP-bueIJ7A
An Afternoon at the Duck Pond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdMMg6o4XiQ
Simply AnnaLeah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU_SE1fGia8
Farewell to AnnaLeah & Mary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpKdHfc_xFY
AnnaLeah Visits Historical Durham AnnaLeah and her dad shared historical interests. Jerry took her to Durham in the Spring of 2013 to see historical sites. AnnaLeah borrowed Mary’s camera to capture the memories. Background music by her Grandpa Waldron on his dulcimer.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8SMzNrsDj4
AnnaLeah’s Confirmation AnnaLeah thoughtfully shares a few words from her heart…about her faith.
See the statement which AnnaLeah wrote when she was 13:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY393AmtB8E
AnnaLeah’s First Year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwPSDNWIodU
AnnaLeah Trims the Blinds While Mary Plays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwnmGzFzmEI
My Favorite Present https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiBDZIj2mM
With Hope, We Carry On https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7acA3CI34
AnnaLeah Karth: “I believe that I, and all true believers, will one day join Him in Heaven.”
AnnaLeah Karth wrote a statement of her faith when she was 12 and read it aloud on December 28, 2008. See you in glory someday, AnnaLeah. We miss you! https://t.co/2ekKl9CW48 pic.twitter.com/jwdAicFMxj
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) March 26, 2018
AnnaLeah Karth wrote a statement of her faith when she was 12 and read it aloud on December 28, 2008. 1/6 pic.twitter.com/V502nQPQcy
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) March 26, 2018
AnnaLeah Karth wrote a statement of her faith when she was 12 and read it aloud on December 28, 2008. 2/6 pic.twitter.com/JulAE0N2Ab
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) March 26, 2018
AnnaLeah Karth wrote a statement of her faith when she was 12 and read it aloud on December 28, 2008. 3/6 pic.twitter.com/y8KxzY8ySs
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) March 26, 2018
AnnaLeah Karth wrote a statement of her faith when she was 12 and read it aloud on December 28, 2008. 4/6 pic.twitter.com/BVn5E3x51h
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) March 26, 2018
AnnaLeah Karth wrote a statement of her faith when she was 12 and read it aloud on December 28, 2008. 5/6 pic.twitter.com/lMlLxYMvgh
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) March 26, 2018
AnnaLeah Karth wrote a statement of her faith when she was 12 and read it aloud on December 28, 2008. 6/6 Another thing she said before she died:
"You will never be worthy of proclaiming Christ's name,
but Christ's name will always be worthy of proclaiming." pic.twitter.com/KCVxoFAOxT— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) March 26, 2018
From the Library of AnnaLeah Karth, 1995-2013: She hadn’t read them all yet; Death By #Underride
I wanted to mark AnnaLeah’s books so that they will always be a part of “her library”. Her sister Susanna picked out this bookplate & just finished putting one in each book. Now they are ready to donate.
Her 600-book collection. . . many of them from a used bookstore where she had volunteered. She hadn’t read them all yet. A precious life ended too soon.
Death By #Underride
#stopunderrides
AnnaLeah & Mary: With Their Sister’s Wedding Dress, Allison’s Angel Gowns Sewed A Dress For A Baby Who Never Made It Home
Allison’s Angel Gowns takes donated wedding dresses and creates outfits for babies who don’t go home from the hospital. I just received a message that Deb has taken the wedding dress which I sewed for Rebekah Karth Chojnacki in 2013 and made this beautiful little dress.
This is the message which the seamstress sent to me:
I’m sorry to be invading your FB page but I just wanted to thank you for allowing me to create angel gowns in honor of your beautiful daughters. I need to apologize for the delay, You see, your dress touched me in ways I never expected. I know the pain of losing adult children and I had a hard time getting past my own grief when I worked with your dress which was the very reason I jumped at the chance to sew for you. I think of you every time I sit at my machine. I wish you and your family peace Friend of the heart, Deb
Here’s the full story: A Story of Four Sisters & A Wedding Dress; Bittersweet Memories Transformed Into a Gift of Comfort
My heart is overflowing.
Discovery of AnnaLeah’s Book Collection Catalogued Online in LibraryThing
I can’t tell you how it felt to look online and find my daughter’s book collection all thoroughly catalogued. I knew that she had a LibraryThing account where she had kept track of her extensive set of books. But never until just a few moments ago had I looked it up.
Most of her books are boxed up and in storage because our current living situation did not have space for them. In a few weeks, we will be moving to a house where we will be able to organize her books on shelves like she would have wanted. So I had asked her brother and sister recently if I could somehow look her account up — thinking I would need a password or something. Lo and behold, they said that she was identifiable by looking up the author Rosemary Sutcliff. AnnaLeah, they said, owns one of the most extensive Rosemary Sutcliff collections in the world (at least among the LibraryThing membership).
Having a few moments to sit down tonight at the computer while I was actually thinking about it, I decided to try and find her account. She did not use her own name but I was able to sleuth it out, and I found her! I found my daughter.
I found the three books which she was reading when she last posted on her account — quite probably just before her death — knowing AnnaLeah. They were perhaps even with her in the car on that trip to Texas.
She read 47 books in 2013. I even found the last book she ever finished, or at least recorded, on May 2, 2013 — two days before our crash. The Storm by Frederick Buechner
How many more would she have read in that year? How many would she have read in her lifetime? How many more books would she have added to her collection? What books might she have written? What literary worlds might she have created for others to enjoy?
Such a bittersweet treasure to have this part of her who is no more — who had so much more living to do.
AnnaLeah’s 30 Category Booklist
AnnaLeah’s History Reading List
AnnaLeah’s Book List for Danelle
And I’m quite sure, that one of AnnaLeah’s “friends” on Library Thing was her sister, Mary, whose collection was much smaller and not so thoroughly catalogued — but just as treasured, I know. A member since July 12, 2012.
Here are some books — probably from her sister AnnaLeah — which Mary received on her last birthday — August 6, 2012:
Of course, I love the photoshoot which AnnaLeah staged of Mary reading one of AnnaLeah’s books (which Mary had not actually read):
