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Family and friends mourn death of lovable 9-year-old Carmella Karpovitch

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Carmella Patience Karpo­vitch liked anything with glitter.

She was a huge Star Wars and Harry Potter fan.

And she loved to read, play Minecraft and tinker with things — especially computers.

But perhaps most importantly, she was an endearing 9-year-old who left an impression of love on the people she met.

“She was a great student. She was smart and had a ton of friends. Everybody loved her,” said Joe Clark, superintendent in the Nordonia Hills City School District. Carmella, a fourth-grader at Nordonia’s Rushwood Elementary School in Sagamore Hills, died Monday from injuries in a traffic accident in Geauga County’s Bainbridge Township. She was riding in the back seat on the passenger side of a car driven by her stepfather, William Varner, 44. Varner’s mother, Lenore, 69, was also a passenger in the vehicle.

“Our whole community is grieving,” Clark said. “Her classmates are in tears. Teachers are in tears, as if it was their own child. This is every parent’s nightmare, every administrator’s nightmare and every teacher’s nightmare — to lose one of our own.”

Carmella’s death is the second tragedy that the school community has experienced this calendar year. Another Nordonia district student, Ruthie Mather, 8, and her 12-year-old sister, Alyson (who was home-schooled), were found dead in January with their parents, Jeffrey and Cynthia, after their Northfield Center Township home exploded.

Counselors were available Tuesday at Rushwood to help students and staff with their grief. They are expected to be there, at minimum, through the end of the week.

“We’re a close family here in Nordonia and we’re going to come together to get through this tragedy,” Clark said. “Carmella was just a wonderful student and a wonderful friend. She’s going to be missed greatly.”

According to Bainbridge Police Chief Jon Bokovitz, the crash occurred about 5:08 p.m. in the 8700 block of East Washington Street. Varner was heading east on Washington and attempted to turn left into a private drive when his car was hit by a westbound pickup truck.

The 55-year-old driver of the truck, the Varners and Carmella were taken to University Hospitals’ Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood, where Carmella was pronounced dead. The condition of the truck driver was unknown. Lenore Varner was hospitalized and William Varner was treated and released. The crash is still under investigation.

The Varners, both real estate agents, were en route to show a house.

“The accident is a blur for me, and that’s probably a good thing,” said William Varner, unable to hold back his tears. “I’ve been walking around all day with my shoes off because she and her sisters painted my toenails the other day ... they’re pinky-purple, black, orange and blue. Blue was her favorite color and she used this silver glitter on top.”

Varner said Carmella often went with him to his real estate office and to home showings and expressed that she wanted to be a real estate agent when she grew up.

“Everybody loved Carmella. She was so precious. She was a dad’s dream daughter because she had that little tomboy in her but she was feminine at the same time,” said Varner, who had been in her life since she was 9 weeks old. “She was a take-charge kind of girl and she always wanted to help. There was something magical about her — she had such a big heart.”

In addition to Varner, Carmella is survived by her mother, Andrea Varner; father, Jerry Karpovitch; and three younger sisters, Cecelia, Cordelia and Addison. The family lives in Northfield Center Township.

A GoFundMe.com account, Varner Family Fund, has been created to assist the family with funeral costs — http://bit.ly/2e64576.

Arrangements for Carmella were pending at Ferfolia Funeral Home, 356 W. Aurora Road, Sagamore Hills.

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com. She can be followed at www.twitter.com/ColetteMJenkins.


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