Across the room admiration

By Mike MacLean

Funny thing about news; it can still travel slowly, even among those trained in its dissemination.

It was only a few months ago that I learned of Casey’s passing, and just today that I stumbled upon this page. An old colleague from The Collegian had mentioned the recent reunion, which prompted a Googling, and up came this page.

Casey joined The Collegian during my senior year at UMass. By that time my role had been reduced from the previous year, so I only worked with her for a brief time, and we worked different beats, so I did not get much of a chance to get to know her. Yet as a closeted sports fan hiding over behind the Arts desk, I always admired her confidence - that sense of knowing what you want and going for it.

Being able, as a Freshman, to walk in the front door of your student paper knowing that not only are you going to write, but that you’re going to join the sports desk and put your opinions toe-to-toe with the guys in the trenches. If she was ever scared or nervous about it, she never let it show, which is also crucial to those daily sports debates we got to overhear from across the room, during which she was never shy about standing up for her opinions.

That takes a special level of determination and self-confidence. Life itself is not only short, it’s also unpredictable and unbiased. It has an end, that much we’re sure of, but the rub is that the ending is unscripted.

So as those of us who knew her in college approach our 30s, and some may believe, our first full “adult” decade, we should all take time to reflect and learn something from Casey and the others in our lives who have demonstrated their own brand of grit. If we could all take a moment to think about that, and maybe make a decision, just a few times a year, to emulate and act on that – produce a physical manifestation of an admiration for someone – it will be enough I think, to keep someone’s memory alive.

Mike MacLean worked with Casey at the Collegian.

Two favorite days

Casey told me the first year I knew her that she loved March because it brought two of her favorite days, St. Patrick's Day and the first day of the NCAA Tournament.

The only tolerable Duke fan

By Ted Kottler

Casey was two years younger than me but because I attended UMass for five years, we worked together for a couple of them at the Collegian.

Casey is the only Duke fan I ever knew who I liked; in fact, because Casey could express her opinions so vibrantly and clearly, I was always willing to entertain her thoughts on the Blue Devils, not merely tell her they sucked.

I knew Matt Vautour before I knew Casey, and because I sporadically have kept in touch with him since I left UMass, I do remember hearing from him some time ago that Casey had fallen ill. But I did not realize the gravity of her illness, and it is only now, in discovering Matt's blog, that I learn she has died.

They say life is short, but it is not supposed to be so tragically so. Death can be completely unscrupulous; so often it seems to attack those whom we think should be imprevious to it. But any life, no matter how long, can be celebrated, and Casey's, as all these posts indicate, richly deserves to be.

I commend Matt for his most thoughtful gesture of this blog, and am glad to have the chance to contribute to it.

Rest in peace, Casey. A newsroom was always a little brighter with you in it.

Ted Kottler worked with Casey at the Collegian.