Sept. 23: Memorial walk planned for Katie Fox

By Lisa Carolin

It has been 15 years since 17-year-old Katie Fox, a student at Chelsea High School, was killed in a car crash. Three of her closest friends are planning a memorial walk in Katie’s honor on Saturday, Sept. 23.

It’s called the Katie Fox Memorial Walk to Make a Difference and is a 5K walk at Hudson Mills Metro Park. Katie’s friends Lisa Smith Tubbs, KC McCormick and Candell Graff, who all graduated from Chelsea High School in 2003, are planning the event.

“KC, Candell and I were going to walk with our families and decided to extend the invitation to Lynn Fox (Katie’s mom) and then opened it up to other people,” said Smith Tubbs. “Katie was a really generous person. She was always kind and thinking about other people. Time has passed since her death, but it’s still sad and hard especially when you think about what might have been. We want to take the grief we have and do something positive with it.”

“I think it’s appropriate that we’re having a walk in honor of Katie because so many of us who knew her have memories of being at Hudson Mills with her,” said McCormick. “Katie loved running, in a way that could inspire even my 16-year-old sports averse self to join the cross country team, and even though she was significantly faster than me, she knew the best way to encourage was to run alongside me and go at my pace. She was very generous and supportive like that.”

The Katie Fox Memorial Walk to Make a Difference begins at 11 a.m. at the Pine View Pavilion at Hudson Mills. Participants as well as those unable to participate are encouraged to make a donation in Katie’s name to one of the following charities: https://www.gofundme.com/aide-aux-victimes-quebec (Building two wells in Conakry, Guinea in memory of all the victims lost in the terrorist attack of Quebec on Jan. 29, 2017); http://www.humanesociety.org/ (Humane Society Texas-Rescuing animals impacted by Hurricane Harvey); http://thesafehavennetwork.org/donate/ (The Safe Haven Network is a shelter referral service that facilitates temporary boarding for the pets of domestic violence victims); or to a charity of your choice.

“Hopefully, a ripple of kindness, generosity, empathy, and hope will spread through the group that gathers on Saturday, Sept.23 to remember Katie,” said Graff. “This is important to Katie’s legacy because she was always thinking outside the box, daring, and stealing people’s affections with her kindness. If she knew the right decision to make, she stepped out quickly and humbly. If she were alive today, she would wonder why “making a difference” is so special, and know that everyone should be doing it. That idea embodied her at such a young age, which takes most of us a lifetime to understand.”

“I think those of us who knew Katie believed that she would go on to do something great and make an impact on the world around her,” said McCormick. “This is a way for us to make that a reality. Just because she isn’t here to do it herself doesn’t mean it can’t be done in her honor.”