Mother drowns in lake after saving 3 children
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- A beloved mother who drowned in Wisconsin's Star Lake after saving three children is being hailed as a hero.
Karen Wessel, described by family friend Don Bussey as a dedicated single mother, was vacationing on the lake near the far northern Wisconsin town of Plum Lake with her son, sister, a friend and two other children.
Emergency officials said the boys were swimming to a sand bar across a small channel when they became too tired to swim and began to struggle.
Wessel, 47, and her sister jumped into the water to save them. But after she pushed the last boy above water, she went under. Rescue crews were able to pull Wessel out of the lake. But she died at the hospital.
The Daily Herald reports Wessel was familiar with Star Lake and her family had a vacation home near the water.
"It's important to know that she saved a little boy's life that's going to grow up and live a full life, and she is a hero. And people need to know that there are heroes," said Janice Potocki, Wessel's sister.
Wessel was a secretary at a Chicago law firm. She's survived by her 9-year-old son Michael and 17-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. A friend of the family has set up a scholarship fund in her son's honor at the Village Bank of Arlington Heights.
