 |
Karen Kathleen Mitchell (1963-1995) |
I first met Karen Mitchell in about 1990, when she attended her first Scuba2 meeting. Karen had been recommended to the club by Hugh K, a colleague at CSIRO Fisheries and Oceanography at Marmion, where Karen worked as an administrative assistant.
Hugh told me she had only been posted recently to Perth, didn’t know anyone and was a newly qualified diver looking for a club where she could get some diving experience. He also asked if I would look out for her and help her with her diving. Karen arrived slightly bewildered, probably due to her running late although, at the time, she was living in the same street as the Sands Hotel, where the club used to meet. A down-to-earth ‘newbie’ was my first impression.
Another of our members, Margaret P, a marine biology PhD student, who also knew Karen, approached me a few weeks later and asked me to ‘take her under my wing’. Marg had been trying to help Karen gain confidence in her diving, but had given up in exasperation!
Thus began my getting to know Karen. The first dives were typical of a newly qualified diver lacking confidence. Buoyancy was the main issue; imitating a cork and not being able to submerge, then plummeting to the bottom like a lead weight. There was much flapping of arms and excessive air consumption. In my opinion 90% of the problem is psychological, manifesting itself in a lack of self confidence on both conscious and sub conscious levels. I had an advantage over Marg in that I didn’t know her well at the time and the female to male thing was also helpful.
It took about 10 dives but we got there! I recall a green wetsuited figure, hair streaming like superwoman, as she gleefully ‘flew’ down the slope at Woodman’s Point to 9 m depth. I knew she didn’t need any more babying from me, as her ease with herself underwater was obvious.
Karen became a very active diver in Scuba2, participating in most of the trips such as Exmouth, Albany, Esperance, Shark Bay, Busselton, Rottnest, and the regular club shore and night dives. She was famous for losing numerous torches and flooding the cheapie watches she used, returning each wet timepiece for a new one! I last dived with Karen on the Cheynes III in Albany in March 1995 when we had a problem with her tank-strap. Rather than fiddle on the surface, we descended to the bottom and I remember thinking how competent a diver she had become, calmly sitting on the bottom in 27 m of water, whilst I attended to the tank-strap.
I think you only become a real member of Scuba2 when you have participated in a trip away. On these, Scuba2er’s really get to know one another, developing friendships and getting to know characters. Karen was no exception. Scuba2 members introduced her to red wine, bicycle riding and ballroom dancing, to name a few life skills and experiences. We saw Karen really blossom and come out of her shell. In return, she treated many of us to special acts of kindness such as a surprise 35th birthday party for me and others, always remembering to send birthday cards to her friends and generally watching out for others. Karen became possibly most famous for the way she could unwrap and demolish a block of chocolate; it was documented on video! She must have studied every fold of the silver foil, such was her skill!
Karen’s most famous diving adventure was at Shark Bay. She and Joy M were caught in a strong current and surfaced some kilometres from the boat. Joy proceeded to hand signal that they required assistance; Karen chastised her by saying that the distress signal was only to be used in emergency!
It was lack of contact from Karen with her Scuba2 ‘family’ in June 1995 that altered us that something was wrong. It was agreed that I try and visit her on my way to work on the morning of the 19th. I gained access to her flat in Scarborough and found her, I was thankful that one of her WA ‘family’ was able to do one last thing for her. The coroner later determined that she died of a brain haemorrhage in her sleep on the 11th June.
Scuba2 mobilised and arranged a house and car for her parents, Barry and Jenni, sister Maidi and brothers Warren and Peter, when they came from Melbourne to make arrangements. We also organised a remembrance service at Fran and David B’s large house for her family, Scuba2 ‘family’, friends and colleagues. It helped all of us to come to terms with Karen’s sudden death.
The Scuba2 committee later decided that the 2nd shore dive each year would be held in her memory. This dive was chosen as it reminded me, Mark J and Marg P of those sunny, carefree days we all enjoyed together. In June the following year, a group of Scuba2 divers scattered half her ashes on a shore dive at Woodman Point. Karen’s parents and Maidi came from Melbourne to witness the ceremony as shore observers.
Scuba 2 members at Woodman’s Point, June 1996.
A year later, her remaining ashes were scattered in the ocean near her parents’ home in Willamstown, Melbourne. The site is below a small seaside park, where a special table was constructed in her memory, partly with contributions from Scuba2 members. Atop is a plaque that reads;
In Memory of
Karen Kathleen Mitchell
12-11-63 - 11-6-95
Aged 31 Years
A strong free spirit who loved the sea,
and gatherings of family and friends
Remembered in Melbourne and PerthI think it is a real credit to and testament of Scuba2’s members that we were able to welcome Karen’s family to join with her WA ‘family’ in sharing their grief.
Since then, I’ve kept in contact with Karen’s parents and particularly in the months initially following her death I was able to relate many of the Karen stories to her family.
Karen’s parents visited WA in August 2008 and travelled to many of the places that Karen had told them about during her diving and other activities. My wife Jacinta and I spent a special afternoon with them talking of old times and how our lives had changed in the years since we last met.
Jenni, Barry and me at Hillary’s Marina; August 2008
December, 2008
