THE PARENT

Mother of youngest victim becomes MADD president

By Jack Brammer

Herald-Leader Staff Writer

Karolyn Nunnallee became active in MADD after the death of her daughter. Photo Provided

Then: Karolyn Nunnallee was in Florida tending to her ailing mother the Saturday night of the bus crash.

"Life for me was normal," she said. "It changed when my in-laws told me there had been an accident in Kentucky and I learned that Jim, my husband, had asked for Patty's dental records."

Patty Nunnallee, 10, was the youngest victim of the Carrollton bus crash.

"My mother came home from the hospital about a week after Patty died," Karolyn Nunnallee said. "She kept asking why couldn't it have been her instead of Patty."

Patty Nunnallee had gone on the Kings Island outing with a friend.

"I saw her name on the TV news when I got back to Kentucky late Sunday night," Karolyn Nunnallee said. "It was misspelled on TV, so I thought maybe they had it wrong, that she was still alive."

Two weeks after the crash, Nunnallee saw the president of the local Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter on TV. The grieving mother joined the organization.

Now: Karolyn Nunnallee is an advocate for victims and works with the MADD chapter in Fort Meade, Fla. She and her husband, who was in the Air Force, moved there in 1992.

She was national president of MADD in 1998 and 1999. She does consulting work for underage drinking programs.

Their daughter, Jeanne, teaches language arts in Georgia and "lives by example as a wonderful, good person."

Jeanne was 6 when her big sister died.