Kathleen Gaarde, 62, lived near the Prince William County Government Center and worked at Washington’s Navy Yard. She was one of 13 victims who died in Monday’s massacre shot and killed at the Navy’s nerve center complex.
The Washington Post profiled Gaarde:
Patrick Bolton knew that his neighbor Kathleen Gaarde worked at the Navy Yard as a financial analyst, so when the news broke of a mass shooting there, he tried reaching out to her and her family. Bolton, 31, said he played with Gaarde’s son, Christopher, in their upper-middle-class neighborhood in the Lake Ridge area of Prince William County, and he remained close with Kathleen, her husband and her daughter, Jessica, who still stayed in her parents’ home.
Informed by a reporter that Kathleen Gaarde had died, Bolton seemed to fight back tears.
“She just helped make it a good home for her family and worked hard and provided everything her family could need,” Bolton said. “They’re the kind of people you want to live next door to you.”
Gaarde’s husband, Douglas, of 38 years penned an email to the Associated Press following news of her death:
Today my life partner of 42 years (38 of them married) was taken from me, my grown son and daughter, and friends. We were just starting to plan our retirement activities and now none of that matters. It hasn’t fully sunk in yet but I know I already dearly miss her.”
Douglass Gaarde worked for the Navy until his retirement last year, according to the Washington Post.
The Navy Yard is is closed today except for essential personnel.
