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- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Seattle Times (WA), 27 Dec 1991.
SKIING ACCIDENT KILLS WIFE OF KRAABEL
MCCUTCHEON , 43, WAS NOTED DEMOGRAPHER
Laurie McCutcheon , noted Seattle-area demographer who died yesterday from injuries suffered in a Christmas Day skiing accident, fell while making a turn on one of Crystal Mountain's most challenging routes, resort officials said
McCutcheon , 43, wife of outgoing Seattle City Council President Paul Kraabel , was an experienced skier and a frequent visitor to Crystal Mountain, said Tom Leonard, president of Crystal Mountain, Inc.
Leonard said McCutcheon and Kraabel were skiing a route called "Tree Run," when McCutcheon fell, slid down a steep slope and hit a tree.
She was treated by paramedics and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, where she died about 4:30 p.m. yesterday.
An autopsy was to be performed today. "We're very saddened by this," said Leonard. "It's a real tragedy." He said McCutcheon 's death was the first at Crystal in six years.
McCutcheon was president of McCutcheon Demographic Research.
Raised in Spokane, she was the daughter of Shaw and Nancy McCutcheon . Her father is a former editorial cartoonist for the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
McCutcheon taught at the University of Utah and spent a year in Indonesia before moving to Seattle and starting her firm. She was noted for her work on changing population trends in the Puget Sound area, particularly the emergence of single mothers and how it affected the workplace.
"She was an outstanding demographer, one of the best in the Northwest," said Betty Jane Narver, a friend and director of the Institute for Public Policy and Management at the University of Washington.
"She made a real contribution looking at the changing work force, children and families. She was keenly interested in the issues."
Friends and colleagues of the couple were shocked and saddened by the news. Both avid outdoors people, Kraabel and McCutcheon had just returned to Seattle from two weeks in Hungary visiting a Seattle sister city and were planning a ski vacation early next year. The two also had roles in the Pacific Northwest Ballet production of "The Nutcracker."
Kraabel announced his retirement from the City Council early this year and plans to work on regional transportation issues when he leaves office Dec. 31.
"He just got married a year ago and seemed very, very happy," said Seattle City Councilwoman Jane Noland, who talked to McCutcheon last week at the council's Christmas party. "She said she had lots of work and business was going so well. It was a horrible, horrible tragedy."
Noland said she regrets that Kraabel will be gone from the council and his colleagues won't be at his side to help him. "I'm sorry we won't all be together," said Noland. "It would be nice to give him extra support."
It is the second family tragedy in five years for Kraabel . In August 1986 his son Ian, 23, a climbing guide, was buried by an avalanche on Mount Baker.
-- Times staff reporter Bob Lane contributed to this report
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Seattle Times (WA), 28 Dec 1991.
PRIVATE SERVICE FOR MCCUTCHEON DEMOGRAPHER KNOWN NATIONALLY
A private memorial service attended by friends and family will be held tomorrow for Laurie McCutcheon , a well-known Seattle demographer and wife of outgoing Seattle City Councilman Paul Kraabel .
McCutcheon , 43, died Thursday from head injuries she suffered in a Christmas Day skiing accident on Crystal Mountain.
Tom Leonard, president of Crystal Mountain, said McCutcheon was skiing with Kraabel on an advanced slope called ''Tree Run'' when she lost control of her skis going around a corner, started sliding down the mountain and hit a tree.
She was treated at the scene and at the resort's intensive care clinic before being flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. She died about 24 hours later, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said yesterday.
An autopsy will be conducted today.
Leonard said McCutcheon seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness before she was flown off the mountain, and he was surprised to hear of her death.
''We are very saddened by this. It's a real tragedy,'' Leonard said.
He said the couple was skiing in a steep, forested area that is designated for expert and advanced skiers.
''It's quite popular for speed skiing,'' he said.
He said the conditions at the time were ''reasonable'' for skiing, with some pockets of fog.
McCutcheon founded McCutcheon Demographic Research in 1986. She also was active as a policy researcher and participant in the Institute for Public Policy and Management at the University of Washington's Graduate School of Public Affairs.
She was known nationally for her demographic research, which focused on issues related to labor force shortages, education, health care, housing and growth, according to a biography from the University of Washington.
McCutcheon received her doctorate from Brown University and her undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of Washington. She had been a faculty member at the University of Utah, and had also been a visiting research fellow in Indonesia.
During the past few years, she was a member of the board of the Seattle Central Community College Foundation, and served on the advisory board of the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Idaho.
She was married last January to Kraabel , 58 ((age)), who is retiring after 16 years on the City Council. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.
McCutcheon gained widespread recognition three years ago when she provided a keynote speech on the changing makeup of the region's population at a Seattle Chamber of Commerce leadership conference.
As a research fellow at the UW's Graduate School of Public Affairs, ''her contribution was immense,'' said David Harrison, executive director of the Northwest Policy Center.
She researched the impact of growth on housing needs in the county, he said, as well as how increasing numbers of minorities and women with children seeking jobs are changing the nature of the work force.
''She worked to make demographic changes understandable to all of us,'' Harrison said. ''She was the only one doing this particular kind of research, making major contributions toward understanding how to deal with growth.''
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Abt 1948 - 1991 (~ 43 years)
(Age 103 years)