Pray for the Whittingham Family

I was very sad to hear that a girl who graduated from Marian Catholic High School in 2002 was hit by a car this past Friday night. She passed away just a day later. I did not personally know Lyndsey Whittingham, but her older brother Kevin was in my grade. Kevin and his wife Colleen were in some of my classes in high school and were part of the Kairos program I was involved in. My dad lives in the same town as The Whittingham's. They are such good people. Please keep them in your prayers.

October 31, 2006
By Steve Schmadeke Staff writer

Out Friday night with a group of college friends, Lyndsey Whittingham was about to step into a stopped cab when a second taxi struck her about 30 minutes past midnight.

As word of the accident spread, dozens of the 23-year-old Frankfort woman's family and friends gathered in a waiting room outside the ICU at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

But a day later, her family knew Whittingham would not recover.

She was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. Sunday.

"I feel so cheated," said Colleen Curtis, her college roommate and now a law student at St. Louis University. "It makes me sick. I just feel like there were so many things we were going to do together -- we were going to travel and be in each other's weddings."

A 2002 Marian Catholic High School graduate, Whittingham wanted to be a dentist, just like her father.

Holly Griffin, president of the Marian Catholic Mothers' Club, recalled watching Lyndsey and her dad.

"You could just see there was a special bond that she and her father shared," she said.

Whittingham's family respected their daughter's wish to donate her organs. She was being kept on life support Monday morning.

"That would be like them to find a way to do some good from this," said Mayor Jim Holland, who knows the family. "The whole community's thoughts are with them."

The accident took place on the North Side, in the 2500 block of North Ashland Avenue. The taxi driver who struck Whittingham was cited for driving too fast for conditions and failing to exercise due care for a pedestrian in the roadway, according to police.

Her friends are devastated that the energetic and kind woman they knew is gone.

When the Monday morning announcements were made over the PA system at Marian Catholic, Sister Mary Paul McCaughey also asked students and faculty to pray for the Whittingham family.

"Almost everybody here knew her and loved her," said Sister McCaughey, the school's president. Whittingham was a varsity cheerleader at Marian Catholic. "She just was darling, just peppy and energetic, always kind to people."

In May, she earned a biology degree from John Carroll University.

After her first year at John Carroll, Curtis drew Whittingham as a roommate.

"It ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me," Curtis said.

The two ate lunch together in the cafeteria and went to Quinn's, a local pub, on weekends.

A spokeswoman from John Carroll University said the school would hold a memorial service for Whittingham later this week.

Whittingham was applying to dental school, said family friend Bernie Krause. She lived with her folks while working as a sales rep for Fisher Scientific.

Her father, Ray, is a practicing dentist in Frankfort. The Southtown could not reach him or his wife, Betsy, Monday.

Ashley Pyle grew up across the street from "Lynz" and cheered with her on their high school squad. The two met at age 5 and delighted in diving together to the bottom of the Prestwick Country Club pool.

"She was always the light-hearted one," Pyle said.

As adults, they would take long drives on country roads south and west of Frankfort, talking nonstop along the way. Pyle is now a University of Maryland law student.

"She was the best listener in the world," Pyle said.

In addition to her parents, Whittingham is survived by her two older brothers Joe and Kevin and their wives, Ana and Colleen.

Funeral arrangements are pending, but the wake is expected to be Friday, followed by a funeral Saturday.

Weekend Trip to Florida - Happy Birthday Joe!

As usual, we had another busy weekend - this one was a lot of fun though. Dennis and I flew in to Pensecola, FL on Friday morning to see his best friend Joe. The best party of it all though was that Joe had no idea that we were coming. I had been planning everything with his wife Teresa for a couple of months so that we could surprise Joe for his 30th birthday. We showed up early in the morning. The boys went fishing and the girls went shopping. Later that night Joe's mom and brother came in from Alabama. We had a good time hanging out together. Saturday all of the guys went golfing while Teresa and I got everything ready for the surprise party that night. The party was great too. We flew back home on Sunday evening - just in time for another week of work....yay...haha
Anyway, here you can see a few pictures from our trip. Payton is Joe and Teresa's beautiful 8 month old daughter. She is so adorable and so happy. We loved getting to know her better...I don't think she remembered us from her trip up to Chicago. She came all the way up here for our wedding in May....then again who really remembers all that much from when they were only 3 months old anyway?
We had a great time and can't wait until we can all get together again - hopefully for a little bit longer next time. :)


The ocean is about a 10 minute drive from their house in Gulf Breeze. It is so beautiful here at the beach!


Here is a dome home on the beach that is built to withstand hurricanes. During the hurricanes, this is where most of the news reporters stay so they can be on top of the action. And, when it's not full of news reporters, you can rent it out for a group visit...anyone want to go?


Dennis with his new best friend Payton and her daddy on the couch. He just loved playing with her and getting her to smile. We even think she said "Hey D!" before we left!


Payton in her super cute Boo outfit with ghost hat getting ready for Halloween!


Bye Bye Pensecola!


Flying Home

another busy week(end)

I can't believe another week has passed. We have been unbelievable buys. Thursday night we went out to eat with some of my ex-co-workers from the myers group. Later that night we met up with our fomer office manager, Kristin, who was in from GA. A spectacular time was had by all. Saturday, Dennis and I drove down to Champaign to see my friend Stephanie. We had a great day picking pumpkins, carving them, and snacking on apple cider and pumpkin seeds. I will enclose some pictures below. Saturday night was a mind-boggling game of Cranium with the in-laws. Sunday I took the annual trip to Long Grove with my friend Christen and sister Lisa. We had a great time. and Sunday night I spent a bunch of time online looking for a new car. I have not been able to decide what kind to get. I have wanted a Prius for a LONG time, but I am not as sure anymore. I test-drove one last year and loved it, but my existing car - the Scion XA was in a bad place for trading it in at the time - I still owed too much and it wasn't worth as much. Now that I am able to trade in, I want to make a good decision. I have been a big fan of the Nissan Morano and the Toyota Prius for ages, but whatever car I do get, I would like to keep it for a long time. The Scion XA wasn't bad, but I only bought it for the great gas mileage and the long commute to work. I don't necessarily like the dark blue color - it's always dirty - always! and it is seriously like driving a roller skate. It is soooo small. This time around, I want to buy something that is nice, practical, and something that will last me a while....I have also looked in to some of the certified pre-owned cars because last time I swore I would never buy another new car again. My husband's truck was a pre-owned and it is awesome. Oh well...the search continues....any suggestions anyone?

Halloween in 22 more days!

Wow! We had one busy weekend. Friday night we saw "The Departed." It was pretty good but I had issues with how much alike Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio looked alike. Not only can these two pass for brothers but in the movie they give them the same haircut. It was a good movie though.

Saturday we went to The Real Men of Comedy show sponsored by Budweiser and Maxim at the Rosemont Theatre. It was great. Joe Rogan was the headliner. Charlie Murphy and John Heffron performed before him. They were all hilarious. I HIGHLY recommend seeing Charlie Murphy if you ever have a chance. (He is Eddie Murphy's brother for those of you who don't know.) We had an awesome dinner at Gibson's too.

Sunday was spent putting up our awesome Halloween decorations and watching the Bears Game. (Check out the pictures below of our Halloween decos - we went all out this year....I can't wait for Christmas!) We are probably the only people in our neighborhood with any Halloween decorations up at all and we don't even have kids. But we do have two nephews and they seemed to like all the stuff. My personal favorites are the hanging spider that is motion activated and drops from the ceiling, the skeleton that dances while hanging on the wall and the blood in the windows reading BEWARE!



Dripping Blood!


The Web




Dropping Spider!!!

It's Here!!!!

The moment we have all been waiting for has arrived. Our painting from Jamaica showed up yesterday safe and sound. We purchased it on our honeymoon at an art auction on May 23rd. 4 months and 9 days later we finally have it. We were beginning to worry that it was all a scam and that we'd been had by a smoothtalking Jamaican art dealer. But last Friday Elaan, the Jamaican art dealer, called me from Jamaica to apologize for the delay and told me we would receive it this week. With all of the moving etc. it was actually shipped to the US once but the Lansing post office sent it back instead of forwarding it to our new address. It was a long wait, but well worth it. Once we have it stretched and framed, we will post a picture of it here on the blog.