School offers support in wake of teacher’s loss

Students, staff come together to honor life of Abigail Karow

The school is working to support all those grieving for the death of Abigail Milagros Karow, the 8-month-old daughter of Spanish teacher Tiffany Potter-Karow. Abigail died early morning last Friday, April 23. Doctors attribute her death to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

To aid the emotional distress that follows traumatic experiences, Principal Wynne Satterwhite told students via the announcements that those struggling with the loss should see the CHAC (Community Health Awareness Council) counselors at school.

Abigail’s funeral took place at 10 a.m. last Monday, April 26 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City. Many present and retired teachers from the school attended.

“It was just lovely,” English teacher Keren Robertson said. “There were pictures, some people saying nice things to [Karow’s] family, and at the end … they let go helium balloons in the air. It was sweet.”

In some classes at the school, students also made cards for the Karow family to offer their condolences.

“The fact that there was such an outpouring of sympathy from the people at Los Altos … really stood out to me,” Messner said.

The Karows ask that instead of giving flowers, people donate to the Abigail Milagros Karow Fund at the San Mateo Credit Union.

Contributions will go into building a memorial in Abigail’s honor at a local park. Meanwhile, the school will find a substitute to fill in Potter- Karow’s position. Since people’s grief and recovery times vary, Assistant Principal Cristy Dawson said that the school does not know yet how long Potter-Karow will be away.

“It was such an unbelievable shock to everybody here and obviously much more for [Potter-Karow],” Dawson said.

According to Dawson, Abigail attended daycare as usual on Wednesday but was unresponsive when the daycare worker tried to wake her up from her morning nap.

Dawson said that Abigail was then brought to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Redwood City. Due to the severity of her condition, she was transferred to Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, where she passed away.

Abigail will be remembered for the short but sweet time she was with her family.

“I had the good fortune to meet her one day when Tiffany was having lunch with the other world language teachers,” Dawson said. “She couldn’t be cuter.”

CHAC counselor Lisa Hills suggests group settings if one-on-one time with counselors is not available.

“Talking really helps the feelings of sadness,” Hills said. “Especially in such a delicate situation like [this one].”

All of the counselors have Master’s Degrees in counseling psychology and are trained to handle grief.

Students or teachers seeking counsel can make appointments with Administrative Assistant Cariann Lee.