Thursday, August 4, 2011

A very Sad Day On Our Island-As we mourn loss of a Friend killed in boat crash

I have some really sad news .....I don't watch TV and hadn't listened to the Radio in days..To busy running to the Doctors and getting meds and resting.. so when I got on the Ferry to come to the Island today one of my friends jumped out of his car and ran back to mine... He ask if I had heard about two of our friends Jen and Tina from the island. I said no whats going on?

He just looked at me and started to get tears in his eyes.. as he told me that Jen was killed and Tina was badly injured and Tina's Dog Chicklet was also killed in a boat crash Tuesday night after they left Put-N-Bay. They had gone to the Bay to celebrate there Birthdays.

There are no word to describe the thoughts and feelings you have when someone tells you that one of your friends has been killed...I just cried .... Jen was a really good Friend of mine and she will be missed greatly..

When you live on a small island  like Kelley's you get to know everyone and the grief  from a loss like this is shared by everyone. There will be many tears and tuff moments as boaters arrive through out the week and learn of the loss of a good friend..

It is going to be doubly hard when Tina returns to the Island... Her Little Dog Chicklet was a 3 pound long haired Chawawa(sp) that she carried in her purse everywhere she went..so She was as much a part of Tina and the island as Jen was..there is a big 11 x 14 picture of Chicklet in the Casino with No pets Allowed printed on the bottom of it.. so you can see that she was as much a part of our lives as Jen and will be missed as well. It 's going to be a very hard weekend..

My heart aches for Jen's Family and for Tina and the loss of her two best friends..

Please say a little prayer for my friends family and For Tina's quick recovery and loss of her precious Fur Baby...Chicklet.

Blessings
Tonya

See story below:

Island residents mourn loss of woman killed in boat crash
By ADAM MAWSON
Morn­ing Jour­nal Writer
KELLEYS ISLAND (AP) — Hearts are heavy among the res­i­dents of a small island com­mu­nity after one of their own was killed in a boat­ing acci­dent..
Jen­nifer Ulisse, of Kel­leys Island, was a pas­sen­ger Aug. 2 on a 27-foot boat cap­tained by Don­ald Dunn, of Put-in-Bay. Tina Callari, of Lake­wood, was also a pas­sen­ger. The Ohio Divi­sion of Water­craft is still inves­ti­gat­ing what caused the boat to crash into break wall at Bal­last Island Marina around 10:35 p.m.
The Coast Guard went to the break wall where they found the three crash vic­tims. Dunn and Callari were found first and Ulisse was found nearby, accord­ing to a Coast Guardt. She was uncon­scious and later died of her injuries.
Dunn and Callari suf­fered head and body injuries. They were taken to Magruder Hos­pi­tal in Port Clin­ton, then flown to St. Vin­cent Mercy Med­ical Cen­ter in Toledo. Dunn is listed in seri­ous con­di­tion while Callari’s con­di­tion was unavail­able, accord­ing to a hos­pi­tal spokes­woman.
None of the vic­tims were wear­ing life jack­ets at the time of the crash.
Gary Fin­ger, who runs The Vil­lage Pump on Kel­leys Island with his wife, Jackie, said Ulisse was well known and well liked among the island’s res­i­dents.
“She’s going to be sorely missed by every­one,” he said.
Fin­ger said Ulisse had been a reg­u­lar to Kel­leys Island while grow­ing up. She lived in a Cleveland-area sub­urb, but was a fre­quent vis­i­tor along with her par­ents. She even­tu­ally moved to the island and worked for the Fin­gers at The Vil­lage Pump. She moved to Florida for a short time, then returned.
Ulisse most recently worked as a man­ager at Kel­leys Land­ing, for­merly Kel­leys Cove. Fin­ger said she and Callari recently had birth­days and he believes they were cel­e­brat­ing.
On Ulisse’s Face­book page she wrote on Mon­day after­noon, “If any­one is not work­ing Tues­day night, we are head­ing over to the bay for Tina’s bday!”
“Our hearts go out to her fam­ily,” said Fin­ger, adding res­i­dents are also hop­ing for the best for Dunn and Callari, who are also reg­u­lar faces on Kel­leys Island. “It’s just a ter­ri­ble tragedy.“
Bill Staiger, the North­ern Region Man­ager for the Divi­sion of Water­craft, said the boat suf­fered “fairly sub­stan­tial dam­age” in the crash but the exact cause or pos­si­ble con­tribut­ing fac­tors have yet to be deter­mined.
He added weather could be a likely cul­prit as there were thun­der­storms and rain in the area at the time of the crash.
“Weather, wind and waves are always a fac­tor,” Staiger said. “If they were in a thun­der­storms the waves could have increased very quickly. The wavers were plus or minus 3 feet when the Coast Guard arrived, but I don’t know what it was 15 min­utes before that. One of the things our inves­ti­ga­tors will be look­ing at is the weather at that time.“
Alco­hol or drugs have not been ruled out, but Staiger said there is no evi­dence they played a role.
“There were tests that were taken when the peo­ple were brought to the hos­pi­tal, but at this point we don’t have any evi­dence alco­hol or drugs were involved,” he said.

13 comments:

  1. I am very sorry for your loss, Tonya. My thoughts and prayers are with you as you mourn your dear friend. So sad, so very sad.
    Hugs to you this evening.
    Connie

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  2. Tonya, I'm so very sorry, this is just terrible! I will say a big prayer for all of you and the families as well. My best friend from High school was killed in an accident a year after we graduated and I'll never forget hearing the news, sending you lots of love and (((HUGS))

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  3. So very sorry for your loss of your good friend. Keeping you and Jen's family in my prayers. Also praying for a quick recovery for Tina.

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  4. Thinking of you and your friends. So sad. So hard to deal with.

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  5. You have my deepest sympathy, Tonya. I know this will be a difficult time for all. All I can do is add my prayers. Know you will be thought of during this emotionally draining time. You need to be extra careful now so you don't exacerbate your condition.
    Big hugs....... ★Linda★

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  6. I am soooo sorry for the loss of your dear friends Tonya..You and the friends and families of the ones lost are in our prayers. soooo soooo sad
    Nancy from insidenanashead

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  7. I am so sorry to hear this! Keeping you and your friends in my prayers! ~Karen

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  8. Oh Tonya...you are going through so much right now. Prayers for your friend's family going up. Take care now ~*~Lisa

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  9. Tonya,
    My deepest sympathy~
    thoughts & prayers~
    Teresa

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  10. Oh dear Tonya - so very sorry. Wishing you comfort and peace in your memories, and sending prayers for acceptance and healing....Hugs ~ Robin

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  11. I am so sorry Tonya! What a tragedy!

    Hugs,
    Connie

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  12. O Tonya , I am so very saddened to hear this praying that God grants you , your friends, and the families of the affected, peace and hope in the coming days and joy in happy memories! hugs lil raggedy angie

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  13. Thank you all for your kind words.. The funeral is today..Saturday August 6th..many of our friends have left the Island to attend the services today.I'm not able to leave but I did send my though and prayers with everyone..It was not he same up town last night as I'm sure you can all imagine. It is so hard to be happy to see your friends pull in to the docks on there boats safe and sound knowing just days ago one of them was out on a friends boat and lost there life.. So many conflicting emotions run threw your head.. I finally had to leave it was just to much for me..This to will pass and I know Jen is looking down on all of us smiling.. She would want us to continue to be happy in Boating and our little island get away!!

    Tonya

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I'm so Blessed that you stopped by & shared your thoughts with me today! Reading your comments always makes me Smile!