KT: This letter was written by Beanz in tribute to you. In the middle of the night. JT
Ellen,
Thank you for such a beautiful tribute to Karsten. The internship presentations were so inspiring. The common themes throughout each presentation showed how much this program means to all of these amazing students and who they will become in their careers. Watching their presentations brought Karsten back to life, he was right there with them. Loving every minute of the SPM program and their internships. So full of life and ambition.
The common themes from all of the students: finding their path, saying yes to soaking in the entire experience and learning everything they could, being a part of something bigger than themselves. Without trying, that was KT. He just was. Karsten.
When you asked if anyone in our family wanted to speak on his behalf we all said no, we couldn’t get through it. But I sat there and thought about these presentations, and the pictures Sam sent me throughout Karsten’s internship and am kicking myself to this day that I didn’t present on Karsten’s behalf. I could’ve emailed the pictures to the 5Fore group, or anyone there with a laptop to project these pictures, and should have talked about how much Karsten loved his internship and the SPM program – the stories he told us. How our family saw how he had finally found his path in life. I also thought about if that would be too much, for his friends to see, I’m not sure. I missed the moment either way. It was an afterthought on my part, a moment lost I wish I would’ve taken time to share with everyone. So here is my presentation on Karsten’s internship:
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Karsten’s desk – overlooking the Richardson warehouse. I know you’ve seen this picture, but shows how happy he was. Karsten was everything hats, shoes, sports. This sums it up.
Although it wasn’t in his ‘job description’ he wanted to know every in and out of how to make a hat. Beginning to end. Every free moment he had he was down on the warehouse floor, asking questions, getting his hands on experience in what was going on. From patch production, sewing, to the quality assurance, how each hat was shaped to a head, unloading the freight trucks…he wanted to be a part of it all. (Photo 1 below)
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Come to find out, he was a pretty good photographer too so he was sent on photo shoots, to photograph moments of hats in the wild. As he hiked Spencer’s Butte, a short 1.4 miles but 700 foot incline…carrying the box of hats with a smile on his face. As always. When did that guy not smile? (Photo 2 below)
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Photo shoot at the coast. (KT’s zoom lens in hand.) With Sam and the ‘models’. They found a perfect day at the coast, and I heard KT took some pretty good shots. In his element, learning and living every moment. (Photo 3 below)
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KT’s other passion…food. If you didn’t know that, you didn’t know KT. Come to find out, his boss owns a restaurant. KT was asked to shoot pics for the menu. Work perk – he got to try every menu item. Hats and food? Dream come true. Nose smashed into the lens, still smiling. Always smiling. (Photo 4 below)
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In good fashion of Sports Product Management, many presentations described sports leagues. Well of course. Karsten played on a softball league. Oh wait, not one but two. The co-ed, and the men’s league. Of course he did. Athlete first and foremost. (Photo 5 below)
I was blessed with 28 years of this amazing being. What I already knew, but has been the most common thread since August 14th, is the insurmountable impact Karsten made on anyone he met. What a truly inspiring person.
I know we will all have a little KT with us forever. Thank you for guiding him through his final chapter.
-Sev
