Samantha Stetzer/Winonan
This winter break brought grief to the Winona State University campus with the untimely deaths of three students: Caroline Bakalyar, age 22, Marie Ellen “Ellie” Ahmann, age 21, and Michael E. Taylor, age 22. As classmates, friends and family try to move on as a community, they also try to remember the stories of those they have lost.
Caroline Bakalyar
Surrounded by her friends and family, Caroline Bakalyar passed away on Dec. 19 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn., due to complications from her birth control.
As a mathematics education major, Bakalyar finally found her niche at Winona State after trying the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and Hennepin County Technical College.
Chelsea Hartman was Bakalyar’s roommate for three years.
“I have known Caroline since seventh grade,” Hartman said. “Caroline was always great to be around. She always had a positive attitude and could always make a bad day better.”
As a child, Bakalyar quickly developed a love of reading and any kind of music. She also loved working the lights and sound for theatre productions and playing sports such as volleyball and basketball.
According to Alyssa Zaborowski, Bakalyar’s roommate for the past two years, when Bakalyar wasn’t pursuing her many hobbies, she was sure to be found flashing her memorable smile.
“I am going to miss her infectious smile,” Zaborowski said. “She would befriend anyone she met. She was just that kind of person.”
Bakalyar’s friends and family all describe her as a loving person who did whatever she could to help those in need. As the oldest of five siblings, Bakalyar was always finding time to spend with her younger siblings, whom her friends would affectionately call “Caroline’s kids.”
Those close to Bakalyar wanted the Winona State community to understand the issues Bakalyar went through and to learn from them.
“I just want everyone to be aware of the side effects of birth control and that they can actually be deadly,” Hartman said. “Listen to your body and never be afraid to say something if you think something is wrong.”
“Also, organ donation is a gift that Caroline chose to give, and she was able to help many people in her passing,” Hartman said.
Ellie Ahmann
Marie Ellen “Ellie” Ahmann passed away on New Year’s Eve when her car fell through the ice in La Crosse, Wis. Ahmann was set to graduate this spring with a finance degree and recently began a part-time job at Fastenal in her field of study.
“Ellie was a person who had a huge heart and loved her friends and family,” Ahmann’s mother, Barb Ahmann, said. “She was a person who just didn’t tell you she loved you, she showed you. She was absolutely beautiful, inside and out.”
Ahmann’s friends describe her as a wonderful friend whose favorite hobby was laughing, with anti-jokes being her specialty.
Haley Prigge, Ahmann’s roommate and inseparable best friend since freshman year, shared an anecdote about her friend’s sense of humor.
“To put this in perspective, we brought Ellie to a comedian one time,” Prigge said. “All of us were laughing so hard we could cry, but Ellie sat there with a straight face. At the end of the show she talked about how the comedian wasn’t funny. Then on the ride home she busted out her anti-jokes and was dying of laughter, while everyone else sat straight-faced.”
Full of life and energy, there was never a dull moment with Ahmann. She was fun, motivated and most of all, “the best at making someone’s bad day a whole lot better,” Prigge said.
While her infectious smile and constant laughter will surely be missed, Ahmann’s friends and family keep her memory alive by posting onto her Facebook page. Weeks after she passed away, her page has still been filled with talk of her love of the color pink and stories of her loving personality throughout the years.
“Just imagine your best friend, the friend that you can’t go a day without talking to,” Prigge said. “The feeling you have for that friend is how I felt being her best friend.”
Michael Taylor
Michael E. Taylor passed away on Jan. 4, 2014, after joining the Winona State community last fall.
Originally from Burlington, Ill. and laid to rest in Elgin, Ill., Michael attended both Southeast Technical College and Saint Mary’s University in Winona before coming to Winona State University as an economics major.
If anyone would like to share more about Taylor, his life and his passing, please send information to Editor-in-Chief Marcia Ratliff at [email protected].
Moving forward
Winona State’s counselors have offered their services to students who want help working through the difficult process of grief. Eunice Alsaker, associate professor and counselor in the Counseling and Wellness Services, located in the Integrated Wellness Complex, said grief is different for everyone but poses specific challenges for those in school.
“Grief is hard anytime, anywhere, but there are unique challenges for a college student,” Alsaker said. “For many [students] it interjects new information, as the loss of a peer may be a new experience.”
Any students still struggling with the deaths of these three students, or any other forms of grief, are encouraged to visit Counseling and Wellness Services.
“We encourage students to utilize campus resources,” Alsaker said. “There is a great deal of focus of activity and fun during college—things we don’t associate with grief. Grief can feel isolating.”
As for these three fallen Warriors, while their time on earth was short, they will be remembered and missed by those who knew them.
Contact Samantha at [email protected]
