‘Wrong way’ victim was preparing for grandson’s first birthday

Karen Foote was driving north on U.S. Highway 95 near the Durango Drive off ramp in the mid-afternoon of Dec. 9, having left her two sisters in Tucson that morning to return to her husband in Sparks and make plans for the holidays.

She had been looking forward to being there for the first birthday, on Dec. 29, of her grandson and his first Christmas, Foote’s sister Kristine Woodworth said.

“Karen was so happy to be spending time there,” Woodworth said. “Sparks is a long way. She was probably going to be stopping for the night, possibly in Beatty.”

But suddenly, a 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser driven by Antonia Apton, 50, of Bullhead City, Arizona, appeared in Foote’s lane, going south — the wrong way — and struck Foote’s 2022 GMC Acadia and a second car, a 2014 Kia Soul, according to Nevada State Police.

In the collision, with cars going at freeway speeds, Foote and Apton died at the scene and a 3-year-old girl, Jaya Brooks, of Las Vegas, a passenger in the Kia, died in a hospital two days later, the Clark County coroner reported.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Woodworth, 66, said of Foote, her younger sister who was 63. “It seems like it can’t be true.”

‘She cared so much’

Foote seemed to be all set in her life, Woodworth said. She retired recently, as did her husband, Ray. She had a second home in Tucson where Woodworth and her other sister, Kathleen Armstrong O’Hanian, 64, also lived and hung out with each other for the past several years. The three recently took up playing golf together, she said.

Foote had distinguished herself as a special education teacher for kids with learning disabilities for nearly 30 years with the Washoe County School District at the Procter R. Hug High School in Sparks, Woodworth said.

She would have about eight students in each class and “I think she was the only person who believed they could do something with their lives, because she believed everyone could do that.”

“She cared so much about all her students,” Woodworth said. “She was the best person I know. She was kind, positive and loving. She left such a mark, such a huge legacy of love.”

“Everyone I called said they were in shock and disbelief,” she said. “They said, ‘She was my best friend!’ She was the best of us.”

In a 2019 interview on KUNR-FM, a public radio station in Reno, Foote emphasized the importance as a special ed teacher of communicating with the family members of her students, who need their attention to be successful, according to the station’s website.

“Every kid has strengths and every kid has weaknesses,” Foote said. “You get really close to all your kids, so it’s really hard to see them make bad decisions.”

‘Made a difference for so many’

On Facebook, Andrew E. Kelly, the former principal of Hugh High School who was there when Foote taught, wrote: “What a tremendous loss, Karen Foote!”

“I have such fond memories of my time at HUG High…and the many teachers there that made magic happen for their kids. YOU were one of those!”

Among his memories of Foote, Kelly wrote that she once insisted that her students who were pregnant should not be sent off the campus and instead room should be made for them there.

“I remember her saying….(a student) is pregnant,” Kelly wrote, “but she’s my kid. I don’t want to lose her. If we push her away, she’ll never graduate. So…what did we do…converted the admin offices to an infant care facility so that teen parents didn’t need to leave HUG….they could come to school with their baby, attend classes, and love their baby….they could stay and thrive.”

“Karen — you were the push that caused me, as principal to act to better advocate for our kids,” he stated. “YOU made a difference for so many.”

Kathleen O’Hanian wrote on Facebook that she “will be desperately missed by her sons, daughters-in-law, her beloved baby grandson, and the rest of her large and loving extended family.”

“In lieu of flowers, we ask that you honor Karen’s deep and abiding love for children and animals and consider making a donation to the GoFundMe for the family of Jaya Brooks, to the SPCA or to your favorite animal or children’s charity in Karen’s name.”

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X.