Alumna killed in car accident

IU alumna Katharine "Kate" Bridget Comiskey, 24, of Bloomington was killed in a car accident on North Walnut Street Tuesday as she traveled to work.\nComiskey, a 2002 IU alumna and teacher at Indian Creek High School in Trafalgar, Ind., was traveling northbound on North Walnut at approximately 7:05 a.m. when a southbound vehicle driven by Bryan Gooldy, 45, of Bloomington, crossed the center line, resulting in a head-on collision, according to a Bloomington Police Department press release.\nAfter being transported to Bloomington Hospital, Comiskey was pronounced dead from injuries acquired from the accident.\nGooldy was also taken to Bloomington Hospital where he was treated for accident-related injuries.\nAccording to the BPD press release, prior to the accident, a motorist on Indiana 37 contacted Monroe County Central Dispatch to report a vehicle weaving in and out of its lane. Officers were dispatched to locate the vehicle, which was later identified as Gooldy's, but were not able to do so before the accident.\n"It was a hectic morning," said BPD Capt. Joe Qualters. "We know the roads were closed for at least a few hours."\nComiskey's mother, Nancy Comiskey, an IU journalism professor, said Kate Comiskey had truly found her calling teaching high school freshman English.\n"She loved every one of her kids, and they loved her, too," Nancy Comiskey said.\nNancy Comiskey said her daughter idolized her father, Steve Comiskey, who is also a teacher, and wanted to follow in his footsteps, devoting her life to education. But a desire to teach was not the only similarity the father and daughter shared.\n"She got her dad's sense of humor," Comiskey said. "She was so funny. I believe people will remember that after they forget how beautiful she was."\nDescribed by her mother as a tall knockout, Kate Comiskey was an animal lover, a lover of the Brown County woods and a lover of fashionable three-inch heels.\nWhile she was a student at IU, Kate Comiskey worked at Michael's Uptown Café where she was close to much of the staff.\n"She had so many friends here," said Melinda Danielson, a manager at Michael's Uptown Café. "She was one of the best spirits I've come in contact with, and I can see the loss is affecting a lot of people here."\nAccording to the BPD press release, the accident remains under investigation with pending toxicology results.\n"She was beautiful on the outside and on the inside," Nancy Comiskey said. "I'll miss her every day for the rest of my life."\nServices for Kate Comiskey are pending.\n-- Contact senior writer Kathleen Quilligan at kquillig@indiana.edu.