Karen Cossette:
CLASS OF 1989
Carter County High SchoolClass of 1989
Ekalaka, MT
University of MaryClass of 1995
Bismarck, ND
Ekalaka Elementary SchoolClass of 1985
Ekalaka, MT
Karen's Story
Life
I'm married, have a 16 year old daughter. I work for the State of North Dakota Department of Human Services managing in house computer systems. For eight years, my systems were the ones that determine eligibility for Food Stamps, Medicaid and TANF. In July of 2007, I switched to the Children and Family Services systems, Foster Care, Adoption, Child Abuse & Neglect, Aging Services and Vocational Rehabilitation.
My family is totally techie. We have 2 laptops and a regular desktop computer, a wireless network, and computers in various states of disrepair. We've dropped the "land line" and gone with 3 cell phones. Its hard to believe there was ever life before computers, cell phones and digital tv!
I do most of my communicating thru f a c e b o o k & Y a h o o M a i l. I use the nickname Daisymae1997.
My daughter, Erica, is a total couch potato! She's smart, loves to read, sing, play saxophone and act. She's also quite an artist. She had an item in the city-wide high school art show and will have 3 entries in the digital show. She's a bit like her mom. She's in a little bit of everything except sports. Thankfully on the music side, she didn't get any of my lack of talent. She currently is setting her sights on being a teacher or pediatrician. I'm putting money on a novelist.
My husband, Barry, and I met when I started delivering pizza in college. He continued to manage Domino's Pizza until 2001. After completing an Associate's in Computer Support Specialist, he started processing health insurance claims at Coventry Health. Last year, he was promoted...Expand for more
to a claims auditor.
Life took a sad turn for me in 2001. My dad was diagnosed with an ALS or Lou Gerhig's like condition in 2001 and Mom and Dad moved to Bismarck in early 2002. Dad passed away in January 2006. The four years he was here in Bismarck were quite rewarding, but I really lost touch with any part of my life outside of helping Mom and Dad. Mom and I were able, with some outside help, to keep Dad at home the entire time. It kept us quite busy. Mom had to keep a nearly full time job to keep health insurance, and I continued to work full time to pay the bills(Barry was in school & I NEED health insurance!). Shortly after they moved to Bismarck, Dad lost the ability to move his arms, so he had to have assistance for everything you'd use your hands and arms for. About a year later, he could no longer walk. We were able to use a lot of adaptive technology, but we couldn't leave him alone for more than 4 hours. (mom and i thought that was a long time, but dad refused to be "babysat") I'm very lucky to have a very independent husband and daughter. They supported me quite a lot thru Dad's illness. Without them, I don't know how I could have done it.
I've been appearing in and around Ekalaka more recently than I have been for several years. Since Dad's passing, I've had a bit more free time, and have been able to get home more often. Mom still makes her home here in Bismarck, but she will be maintaining a presence in MT. She has more free time now, too.
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