KARI JUNE WITSCH

 Written by Terry Conner

   My little girl came almost a month early.  Seems I just don’t have my babies on time.  She arrived just two minutes after midnight, so all my baby announcements went out with the wrong birth date.  She lost almost a pound while we were in the hospital so only weighed 5lbs 2ozs when we got home.  I hardly knew how to hold this tiny one!  She was the best baby!  So easy to care for.  Put her on a blanket… give her a couple of toys… she was good for hours.  Good thing as I had my hands full chasing after her busy brother. She was an adorable toddler with those big, beautiful brown eyes and an ever ready smile.  She was a very loving baby; always giving lots of hugs and kisses.

   Just before her fourth birthday a neighbor’s dog viciously attacked Kari.  He got part of her nose and her top lip.  I was sure that she was maimed for life.  God looked after us and sent us a great plastic surgeon.  How she loved that man, called him “MY doker”. And what a remarkable job he did on my sweet baby!

   Kari always loved to sing and started very young.  She had a beautiful voice and my home was always filled with music as she was singing almost all the time.  When she was around 10 and we were staying at my mom’s house, there was this amateur talent contest that she entered.  She won second place because the judges said she had such good stage presence and lip synced perfectly.  They did not realize that she was the one actually singing!  She had a big voice even then.

   We moved around fairly frequently and Kari and Larry were very close.  They would take off for a day with bag luncheons and go investigating.  Unbeknownst to me, many times into wilderness areas.  They had quite a few of their own special adventures.

   When we were living in Seattle, she would baby-sit a lot for her Uncle Tracy.  Basically, he bribed her with free concert tickets!  Being a disc jockey celebrity had its perks.  One day, he called us from the radio station, as Van Halen was coming there for a photo opp, and invited Larry and Kari down to meet the stars.  They were standing in front of the group when Van Halen put his arm around Kari and gave her a hug just as the camera snapped.  What a picture!  It shows one certain young teenage girl in absolutely seventh heaven!

   When she was around fourteen, the children spent the summer with my parents in the Dominican Republic.  They really had a good time there and came home speaking Spanish.  I had promised Kari that she could get her ears pierced on her sixteenth birthday, but evidently she could talk her Nana into anything!  Yep, she came home with her ears pierced.

   We went to live with my brother Pat in Kenya when Kari was sixteen.  What a great experience that was.  The school was quite difficult there, but Kari excelled.  In her economics class, they were given an imaginary $10,000 to be invested in the stock market.  She made a fortune and got an A!  Too bad the money wasn’t real.  We went on quite a few safaris and were always impressed and fascinated with the wild animals.  We used to take long walks in our neighborhood.  It was so beautiful with the red earth and the lush and lovely flowers and plants.  There was even a fragrance in the air.  This came to an abrupt halt when we heard that a neighbor’s horse had been killed by a lion!

   While in Kenya, the letters between there and San Jose were frequent as her first love, Ralf, and her corresponded.  Right after her senior year, Kari returned to San Jose and started her life with Ralf.  Kari grew into a very beautiful woman, but she was also very bright.  She went to work in a car dealership and quickly rose up in the organization.

    Tracy tells of this time when Kari came to visit her cousin Maggie after they were all grown up.  The girls were very close.  The three of them were out at a cocktail lounge having a good time.  Unfortunately, it was to be short lived, as Kari had to leave in a short while to catch a plane for home.  Tracy told her that is was too bad she couldn’t stay because Sammy Hager was in town for a concert and he had four tickets!  Kari loved Sammy Hager and was finally convinced to stay and go to the concert.  She went and made a bunch of calls canceling her trip and getting things handled at home.  When she came back to their table, all excited and proud, her uncle Tracy simply said, “gotcha”!

   All this time, Kari was still singing and with the help of a manager/friend discovered that she was best suited for the country western genre.  Shortly after moving to Kennewick, Kari made her first demo cassette.  It was fantastic!  My personal favorite was “Hand in hand”.  It had an upbeat rhythm with fun, catchy lyrics. “ I’d give it a 10 Dick.”

   Several years later, Kari went into Karoke.  With her pretty face, fun personality, and great voice, she was a huge success and soon started her own karoke business called Mitchell Enterprises.  Her voice is truly beautiful.  Every time I heard her sing,  “My heart will go on” from the movie Titanic, I would get goosebumps.  God has blessed her with an awesome voice.

   Shortly after she moved to Tampa, she got a job as a tax consultant.  It is hard to believe how quickly she picked that up and how astute she was in her job.  She can excel at anything.  Beautiful and talented, she is extremely bright and has a great sense of humor.