Today we said goodbye to our precious Karrie. At a small gathering of family and close friends, we celebrated her extraordinary life with love, smiles, reflections and many tears. In her final days, Karrie was enveloped in a cocoon of warmth, caring and love by a devoted fiancé, family and friends. That warmth was felt today as we listened to her sister Bonnie deliver a beautiful eulogy and then invite us all to speak about what Karrie meant in our lives.

I want to share a little of who Karrie Loreth-Burns was to us. Fourteen years ago we met. Karrie joined PacBlue when we were a small printing company just beginning to spread our wings. She was a fascinating young woman who loved animals and was passionate about her beloved pet python… I have to admit that I have never been able to actually hold the snake and when she used to say that he was “cute” I couldn’t quite understand, but I was always in awe of her knowledge and the way she handled and cared for him.

A quiet, gentle person, Karrie soon proved to be invaluable to us. She was smart, talented and gave new meaning to the word efficient. During those years, we grew together. Karrie got married and soon Bryce was born. Not one who could be idle, Karrie was soon back at work with her little bundle – our “Office Baby.”

What a joyful time that was! We had the pleasure of having Bryce spend his first year with us but unfortunately when he began moving around and sticking his little fingers in plugs and computers, we were forced to fire him and he had to move to daycare.

By this time, Karrie was no longer just an employee, but had crept into our hearts and was a cherished friend. An accomplished and prolific artist, Karrie was a natural at Photoshop, albeit that she was self-taught and completely unconventional in the way she went about using it. Soon we knew that there was nothing she couldn’t do when it came to Photoshop.

As we developed our scanning department, Karrie naturally took control of it and within a very short time was so proficient that her reputation as an expert scanning artist preceded her. Her instinct for colour correction was second to none and being the perfectionist that she was, you knew that if Karrie said it was the best that could be done, there was no arguing.

And then she fell ill. Leukemia. Before long, Karrie knew everything there was to know about the disease and her positive determination to beat the odds was an inspiration to us all. She was a trooper and handled the treatment with amazing dignity and grace, not once, but three times. During the times she was in remission we got our Karrie back and it felt like old times again, but this was not to last. Her final bout with Leukemia proved to be too much for her to conquer and at 12:30 am on April 8th 2009 Karrie left us, peacefully.

On reflection I would just like to say the following. “Karrie, you were a joy in our lives. How lucky we were to have known and loved you. Not a day will go by that we will not think of you and miss your sweet, quiet presence. You will forever be a part of our family and we will watch with pride as Bryce grows into the young man you nurtured him to be. Rest peacefully now, sweet Karrie and thank you.”

We will hold a memorial for Karrie at Van Dusen Gardens for PacBlue staff as well as her clients, family and friends. Karrie was a true nature lover and in keeping with her love of nature and trees, we plan to adopt a tree in her name that will blossom every year at this time. Thanks, Alika!

PacBlue has also set up a Trust Fund for Bryce’s education. If you are interested in contributing to the fund please contact me at 604-714-3288 ext. 142 or carol.colley (at) pacblue (dot) net.