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Katherine Frances Aschim, age 20, a sophomore at the University of Montana at Missoula, passed away Tuesday, Jan. 20, at her residence due to complications from diabetes.
Funeral Mass was 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 23, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Sunburst, with burial in the Sunburst Cemetery. Visitation was Friday for one hour, from 10 a.m. until service time, at the church. The family suggests memorials be given to the charity of the giver's choice.
Survivors include her parents, Philip and Mary Jo Aschim, of Sunburst, sister, Callie Aschim, a student at Montana Tech in Butte, and a brother, Nate Aschim, of Sunburst, grandparents, Bob and Bonnie Aschim, of Sunburst, and great-grandmother, Kate Aschim, of Shelby. Also surviving Katie are her aunts and uncles, Dick and Diana Barsness, Kathy and Bill Lovell, Jim and Claudia Sheehy, Eric and Marlene Mainard, Mike Sheehy, Connie Rice, and Frank Sheehy, as well as numerous cousins. Her grandparents, Joe and Frances Sheehy, and a great grandfather, Orville Aschim, preceded her in death.
Katie was born November 28, 1983, in Conrad to Philip and Mary Jo (Sheehy) Aschim. She was raised on the family farm near Sunburst, where she graduated from North Toole County High School in 2002. While a student at NTCHS, she played basketball and volleyball, was student council president and was a member of FCCLA and the ISI Science Club. Katie was also captain of the Sophisti-Kix dance team, participated in honor choir for two years and was active in school musicals and plays. Her senior year she attended the International Science Fair.
Katie was in her second year at the University of Montana, Missoula. She was a correspondent for the Shelby Promoter and the U of M newspaper, The Kaimin. It was Katie's dream to become a journalist - reading and writing were her passions.
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Kristin Karst (Piccioni) (1997)
Katie left us 5 years ago this past January. I was so blessed to have had her be a part of my life. Katie was an amazingly talented, and I enjoy reading her articles still today. I think my brother Jeff conveyed it best with the following words:"When I was working at Skyway Elementary in Coeur d'Alene last year I met a Kindergarten teacher who had connections to the Puckett family back in Sunburst. Katie had written an article about a member of this family (Gordon, who was our grade school principal) after he passed away, and it was one of her best...a really touching tribute. Anyway, I shared this with the teacher and she was in tears. It meant so much to her to read the words Katie had written, and Katie's words continue to guide and inspire me and, I'm sure, almost everybody who reads them. We were all blessed that she shared her gift of words so readily. I notice that my blog is so often very self-centered, but Katie wrote in the exact opposite way....almost every one of her columns was building somebody up, acknowleding somebody else's gifts, or simply pointing out the general beauty in humanity. Whether it was her written or spoken words, Katie almost always was able to make everything okay."
I know I am one of many who can say they love her and miss her everyday!
Lisa Klingler (Cross) (2002)
I can't begin to express how much I miss Katie without tearing up. She was a shining star with amazing gifts! All of us who were lucky enough to have her in our lives are better people for it. Your words describe it best when you explain how many people Katie is still touching with her words even today, more than five years later. Thank you for allowing us another way to remember her.