When someone you know and care about dies as a result of a freak accident, it knocks you off your feet. […] You think that what you’re seeing and hearing is so wild that it can’t possibly be happening.
That’s how many of my friends and neighbors in the Caseville area are feeling as they try to take stock of what happened to Judy Zagorski on Thursday [March 20]. Zagorski, a Caseville resident, was killed in Florida when an airborne spotted eagle ray hit her while she rode in a boat driven by her father. The accident was so incomprehensible that it made new reports across the nation.
I met Judy through her long association with the Cheeseburger in Caseville Festival, the 10-day party that transforms our village into Key North, a tropical paradise each summer. Judy, and her husband, Steve, who died in his own nightmarish way in December 2005 after complications from routine shoulder surgery, were among the original organizers of the festival.
Judy was what you call a “people person.” She was sweet and kind and generous, almost to a fault. If you met her, you liked her. It was automatic. She became an instant friend, someone who would do anything she could for you.
People in our tiny resort town will remember her vibrant smile, her great sense of humor, and her humanity for years to come.
— Taken from Dave Vizard’s Bay CIty Times column, via MLive.com