Tree planted in Comiskey's honor

IU Alumna Kate Comiskey loved nature. So planting a tree in her memory seemed appropriate said Sarah Cahillane. Cahillane and her friend Danny Cheshire orchestrated a tree planting ceremony outside the Education Building Wednesday for Comiskey, a teacher at Indian Creek High School in Trafalgar, Ind. who died in a car crash last November.\n"Sarah gave us a wonderful gift with a beautiful dogwood that will take root and bloom every spring," said Kate's mother Nancy Comiskey. "Kate loved her friends and I think this is a perfect memorial to her life."\nCahillane said she wanted a tree that would flower, like a dogwood. The journalism school donated over half of the $300 it cost to buy the tree and family and friends chipped in the rest. About 30 people attended the event.\nCahillane said she hopes the tree will help bring peace to the people Kate left behind.\n"Hopefully the tree would provide some solace for all of us knowing that something has rooted in her name," she said. "And I thought the tree was a really great way for kate to stay a part of the community that she loved so much.\nCahillane picked the words on the plaque by the tree which read, "Whosesoever you go, with all your heart: Kate Comiskey cherished always by family and friends."\nNancy Comiskey read a poem by Emily Dickinson at the event. Cahillane said she wanted the day to be a day of remembrance.\nMy friend Danny and I, we really wanted it to be a day where we remembered all the happy moments with Kate and the funny things that she did," Cahillane said. "She always made us laugh. It was a nice happy day to remember the good things about her."\nCahillane met kate while working at the uptown Café at. They remained close friends for three years before she died.\nKate's brother Daniel Comiskey said eh thought Kate would be "pleased" with the tree planting.\n"Bloomington meant so much to Kate and I'm glad that she'll always have a place here," he said. "That being said, the ceremony made me very sad. I miss my little sister terribly. The sapling reminds me of how delicate and graceful she was"