To the editor:

It was a poignant coincidence to read Jim Freeman’s article on Destination Imagination and then turn two pages to the obituary for Katelyn Mikolasy.

Katelyn epitomized the DI spirit. I was blessed to see her creative spirit in action when she was part of the award-winning Whidbey Island Academy middle school DI team I managed for two years.

Katelyn’s imagination and sense of fun and adventure was contagious. She always brought joy and a bit of mischievousness to our team meetings. She loved to express herself and take the stage.

I’ll never forget the idea for selling hypnotizing glasses that she helped hatch for the radio commercial required in the team’s challenge. Katelyn co-wrote and sang the commercial jingle for the DI team, so I wasn’t surprised to read that she was involved in TV broadcasting, choir and drama at her high school in Utah.

I will miss Katelyn and her love of life and zest for the creative edge. My heart goes out to her parents, Patsy and Bruce. It is a tragedy that one so spirited, and with a whole adult life ahead of her, could leave us so soon.

Thank you, Katelyn, for being part of our family’s life and for gifting life to others through your wish to donate your organs.

I hope that Katelyn’s death deepens our young people’s appreciation of their own spirit of imagination. And that it is also a reminder of how quickly that spirited life can be taken through the careless disregard for the lethalness of a gun.

Kathleen Landel

Langley