VIDEO/PHOTOS: As a rainstorm rolled over the Overisel Township Fire Department, a family with firefighting in their bones shared stories about their late mother and sister, Gail VanAuken, killed in the line of duty.
“She was the trickster of all of us,” said Carole Chisholm, one of VanAuken’s sisters.
“Probably Gail up there, saying, ‘Hey, let’s get this party started,’” said sister MaryJo Damveld, joking about the distant thunder.
In the early hours of the morning on November 2, 2000, Gail VanAuken, a 41-year-old teacher’s aide and firefighter with the Overisel Township Fire Department died in a crash while driving to a turkey barn fire.
Her husband Rick, also a firefighter, was involved in the crash, too, and survived.
“Our lives changed instantly that night we lost her,” said Michelle Green, VanAuken’s daughter. “My mom truly was a hero.”