Boulder's homeless mourn a friend, the latest in series of sad losses

[kag]

Source: Boulder Daily Camera

Four people went to sleep under the eaves of a building at Scott Carpenter Park during the spring snowstorm that struck Boulder on the night before Mother's Day. Only three woke up.

The woman discovered by her friends to have died while they slept was identified two days later as Kathryn J. Fishman, 59.

Apparently homeless for a significant period of time, she had been a frequent visitor in recent weeks to the Scott Carpenter Park area, and was well known for pushing around not one shopping cart but two.

<SNIP>

According to the Boulder County Coroner's Office, she left behind a daughter, who lives in the state. The cause and manner of Fishman's death has not yet been determined, nor have those of the previous three transients to die.

Read more: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_25784499

[riverwalker]

1. there but for the grace of God....

We always think "that would never happen to me, I have a family, a job, friends." Wrong, it could happen to any of us. She was once married to a successful patent attorney in Denver, had children, a home, and I'm sure many friends. Then she had a head injury, and (resulting?) mental illness, and who knows what else happened to her.

"She was a very nice lady. She would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.
"She was crazy, but a good kind of crazy," she added. And, in a refrain repeated by several of Fishman's acquaintances, she noted, "She was on a lot of medication."

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_25784499/boulders-homeless-mourn-friend-latest-series-sad-losses

[Earth_First]

2. A head injury which likely resulted in mountains of medical-related debt...

that spiraled out of control and into other portions of her financial life.

What a tragic event.

It's incredible how close millions of us are to a fate not too uncommon from Ms. Fishman's...

Rest in Peace, dear.

[azurnoir]

3. To say this is sad is such an understatement to say this is an abomination is more accurate

why the f*ck does anyone have to be homeless?

I fear the answer is because we've had what is called the 'work ethic' so pounded into us as a society that there are enough people who find this preferable to someone getting something for nothing

we should all be ashamed

[countryjake]

6. Agreed.

I feel the same as you...when shopping, we often see the homeless standing near by huge empty closed-down stores, my area is full of those ghostly buildings. Some even have their lights on all night, big-box failures keeping the lights on in order to keep any trespassers out.

Something is terribly wrong when people are dying out in the cold, while power is running to "protect" empty property.

[KG]

4. go USA!

[LoisB]

5. Yeah, we're #1

[cigsandcoffee]

7. Right, because nobody's homeless in Europe.

Or Canada. Or Australia. Or Nigeria. It's just in rotten old America.