GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE — Matthew DiBease doesn’t know what to say.
Words escape him when he looks at his four children. He is mute with grief when the funeral home calls to discuss the arrangements for his wife’s funeral. The world outside his Geneva-on-the-Lake home is still turning, still moving, still noisy, but the DiBease family’s world has stopped.
Like any other night, Matthew DiBease kissed his wife, Karen, goodnight Saturday evening. The children — Madelin, 10, Juilia, 7, were at a slumber party. Samantha, 5, and Matthew Jr., 2, were tucked into bed.
“Sometime in the middle of the night, the baby needed his diaper changed,” Matthew DiBease said. “So Karen got up and changed him and said she was going to get herself something to drink. I rolled over and went back to sleep.”
Matthew DiBease, 27, woke up at 5 a.m. to get ready for work and found Karen, 29, dead on the kitchen floor.
“I tried CPR, but there was nothing. I called 911, but she was already gone,” he said.
DiBease chokes on his words as he describes those panic-stricken moments, his relief that his oldest daughters didn’t have to see their mother on the kitchen floor and his concern about the future, both immediate and distant.
“We have no life insurance,” he said. “I mean, we are both so young with no health problems. The situation is beyond words. I am so lost,” he said.
DiBease said he can’t pay for Karen’s $8,000 funeral.
“It is money we just don’t have. I don’t know what I am going to do,” he said.
A fund has been established for the DiBease family at Andover Bank, and donations can be made at any Andover Bank branch. Donations for the family can also be mailed to the Catholic Community of St. Gabriel, 9925 Johnnycake Ridge Road, Concord Township, OH 44060.
In just a month, the DiBease children will expect a visit from Santa Claus, and Matthew DiBease said there isn’t much hope for a normal Christmas.
“Christmas is obviously a huge concern,” he said. “I can’t give my children a proper Christmas; I can’t give them their mother back. They are the most amazing children. This is just so hard. I am just so lost.”
Donations of new toys and clothes for the children can be dropped off at the Geneva-on-the-Lake Safety Service Center, located at 4929 S. Warner Drive.
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Holiday tragedy
Mother dies, leaves husband and four children behind
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