Profiles of Life: Kara Wiese

Kara Wiese loved to jazz up her surroundings.

"She was very big in planting flowers and landscaping," said her aunt, Darlene Quiroz. "African violets were her favorite. She had a knack with flowers and plants, and she had them inside and outside her house."

Wiese, 26, died in her Bridge Creek trailer. Her 6-year-old son, Jordan, suffered minor injuries.

A collector with First Capital Corp. of Oklahoma City, Wiese spent her spare time entertaining her son and gardening. She also loved horses, her aunt said.

"I used to have a horse named Silver, and she got him all the time. She was hoping to someday get some horses of her own."

In 1988, when she was 15, she baby-sat in El Reno for 4-year-old Levi Douglas Miller, who had asthma and couldn't go outside in the cold.

On a January day when a foot of snow began to melt, Levi wanted to play with it. So, Kara filled a bathtub with snow, and Levi had his first snowman - indoors.

Kara and Levi were featured in a story that moved on The Associated Press wire Jan. 12, 1988.

Kara was good with kids, Darlene said. "Her son was everything to her. She was that way with all babies. She loved them and tried to steal everyone else's from their arms anytime another was around."

Kara also focused her life on family events, Darlene said. "She was always there, and she was good about organizing family outings such as cookouts, dinners and trips to Red Rock and such."

- Jerry Shottenkirk