Humboldt family carries on after tragedy

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May 7, 2011 - 12:00 AM

Humboldt family carries on after tragedy
“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”
— Robert Frost

 

HUMBOLDT — Funny thing about life.
“It changes, whether you’re ready for it or not,” said Sarah Berkenmeier. “You’re just going along, then poof, it’s gone.”
Berkenmeier, widowed mother of twin 3-year-olds, Brooke and Bailee, knows all too well the sudden twists and turns of life.
One morning in December 2008 she was happily married with a family. By that night, she was a widow.
Her story is one of testament of a woman striving to remain a role model, authoritarian, and yes friend, to her girls.
“That’s one thing I’ve already begun to stress to them,” she said. “We’re a team. We need to stick together.”

SARAH grew up in Iola, the daughter of Dan and Janet Ware.
A 1993 Iola High School graduate, she bounced around from job to job after graduation, in search of a good fit. She attended college briefly before deciding that she couldn’t afford the time away from work.
Things changed for the better when Sarah took on at Cellular One (now U.S. Cellular) as a retail wireless consultant.
“I loved that job,” she said. “I guess I always had a thing for phones.”
Learning about the latest cell phone models and greeting customers were a natural fit, she said.
The job also happened to put her in touch with Mikel Berkenmeier.

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