YOUNGSTOWN Special Olympics swim meet honors volunteer's generosity

The Kelly Jo Carlson Memorial Special Olympics Swim Meet is Saturday at YSU.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Kelly Jo Carlson loved athletics and volunteering.
When she died on April 21, 2004, at the age of 33, her family asked that monetary tributes go to the Special Olympics program, one of Kelly's major interests.
She was a member of the swim, softball and tennis teams at Western Reserve High in Warren, where she earned 11 varsity letters and was student body president.
Kelly also enjoyed volunteering and had helped with Special Olympics events since she was a child, her father, Paul said.
"The response was overwhelming. We received $2,700," said Carlson, of Bazetta.
"While we were writing thank you letters, we began talking and ... felt nothing would be more appropriate than sponsoring an event in her memory that combined her special interests of athletics and volunteering."
Special meet
As a result of her association with the Special Olympics, and because Carlson had served on the Fairhaven Board in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Area 11 Kelly Jo Carlson Memorial Special Olympics regional swim meet was born.
This year's meet, of which the Trumbull County Fairhaven Program is the host, is Saturday at Youngstown State University's Beeghly Natatorium, beginning at 10:30 a.m.
In addition to underwriting the event, Carlson said he and his wife, Lois, and Kelly's brother, K.C. and his wife, Michelle, and their children, Micah and Marley; Kelly's sister, Kristen Matthus and her husband, Gregg, and children Chad and Aaron; and friends of the Carlson family, will be volunteer workers for the meet.
Special Olympics teams from five counties -- Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula and Summit -- are expected to compete. Swimmers at the regional meet can qualify for the state meet, said Carol Kirsch, adaptive physical education teacher and coordinator for Special Olympics at Fairhaven.
The money donated in memory of Kelly, who graduated from Kent State University and had nearly completed work on a master's degree in business administration at Webster University in San Diego, Calif., will be used for pool fees and other costs associated with the meet, such as officials, life guards and awards, Carlson said.
Bright future
Carlson, former president of the Warren City Board of Education and retired senior vice president of human resources and education at Forum Health, said he and his family plan to underwrite the annual Area 11 Kelly Jo Carlson Memorial Swim Meet on a continuing basis.
"It helps the Special Olympics and it helps us deal with Kelly's death. It gives us a certain closure," Carlson said.
One of the reasons Kelly said she liked volunteering was because "it is fun," her father said.
"If Kell could be with us today, she would have a very simple but important message for the swimmers participating in the meet: Do your very best and most of all have fun," Carlson said.
alcorn@vindy.com