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Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Father and daughter hikers found dead in Maine state park were ‘especially close'
A New York father and daughter whose bodies were found in a Maine state park last week following extensive search efforts were 'especially close,' according to their joint obituary. The disappearance of Ulster Park residents Esther and Timothy Keiderling, 28 and 58, respectively, sparked large-scale searches in Baxter State Park early last week, state park officials said previously. The pair was last seen hiking up Mount Katahdin the morning of Sunday, June 1. Several law enforcement agencies began looking for the Keiderlings after their car was found still sitting in the day-use parking lot on June 2, officials said. Timothy Keiderling's body was found on June 3 near the mountain's summit, and his daughter's body was found the next afternoon in a wooded area of the state park. Weather conditions are believed to have been a factor in the Keiderlings' deaths, Baxter State Park Director Kevin Adam said last week. Temperatures in the park on June 1 were 30 to 40 degrees, and there was freezing rain, fog and even some snow, he said. Timothy Daniel Keiderling was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Ulrich and Ellen Keiderling on Sept. 22, 1966, according to the joint obituary. He grew up in Connecticut and New York with his seven siblings before graduating from Kingston High School in Kingston, New York, in 1983. Timothy Keiderling went on to study computer science at Sullivan County Community College, though his friends say baking was his favorite subject, according to the joint obituary. After graduating high school, he also joined the Bruderhof community — an Anabaptist Christian community of German origin that has spread across the world over the last century, taking his membership vows in 1988. 'Endowed with unquenchable energy and enthusiasm for life, Tim served his community in many capacities: as an elementary school teacher, a financial administrator, and, over the last ten years, as a traveling salesman for Rifton Equipment,' the joint obituary reads. 'As a teacher, he will be remembered most for his infectious energy, his patient kindness, and his ability to pull together the most rambunctious groups of children.' Read more: Father, daughter found dead after days-long search in Maine state park Timothy Keiderling taught world history and geography, according to the joint obituary. He was also an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed leading hikes through the fields and woods of the Hudson Valley, in addition to camping and beekeeping. 'As a salesman for Rifton, a manufacturer of adaptive physical therapy equipment, he was passionate about helping children and adults with disabilities. But he was equally passionate in selling the good news of the Gospel, which he did with unabashed and cheerful vigor,' the joint obituary reads. 'His ability to re-tell stories from the Bible was legendary, and he held both children and adults spellbound with his creative recounting of events from both the Old and New Testaments.' Over the years, Timothy Keiderling and his wife of 31 years, Annemarie Keiderling, raised four daughters — Esther, Sophie, Heidi and Katherine Keiderling — and two sons — Karl and Timothy Keiderling, according to the joint obituary. Timothy and Annemarie Keiderling were also grandparents to two granddaughters. But Timothy Keiderling was especially close to Esther Keiderling — his eldest daughter, according to his obituary. 'What drew both him and Esther to high places was always the view — the broad expanse of God's handiwork, laid out below them,' the joint obituary reads. 'The unbearable tragedy of their passing aside, it is perhaps fitting that they went Home from a mountain top: a place of danger and solitude, but also, a place close to God." Esther Louisa Keiderling was born Jan. 20, 1997, according to the joint obituary. She graduated from The Mount Academy — a Bruderhof seminary in New York — in 2015. Like her father, Esther Keiderling earned a living working for Rifton Equipment's sales department, according to the joint obituary. She was also a frequent contributor to Plough magazine — a Bruderhof publication focusing on faith and spiritual life. Read more: Weather 'definitely a factor' in death of New York hikers in Maine park 'Quieter than her father, Esther was a sensitive, deeply-thinking woman who loved reading and writing, with a particular interest in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Edna St. Vincent Millay. (In her last Substack post, on May 31, she urged her readers to read 'all' of Millay's 'Renascence', fittingly written in Maine.),' the joint obituary reads. 'Her friends remember with great fondness how attentive she was to the needs of those around her, noticing when someone needed a word of encouragement or a small gift of some kind. Such gifts often included her own heartfelt poetry.' Timothy and Esther Keiderling are survived by their aforementioned family members and many other beloved friends and relatives, according to the joint obituary. 'The family takes comfort in knowing that Tim and Esther are now with Jesus,' the joint obituary reads. Powerball: See the winning numbers in Monday's $54 million drawing West Springfield man killed in Chicopee shooting remembered as an 'avid reader' Suspect wanted in Brockton shopping plaza shooting turns himself in to police Mass. weather: Central Mass. could see over 1 inch of rain on Tuesday Some Nantucket short-term rentals in jeopardy after land court decision Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
More Babies Are Getting Vaccinated Early As Texas Measles Outbreak Continues
Texas's measles outbreak has grown to more than 700 cases since January, requiring the hospitalization of 92 people and leading to the deaths of two unvaccinated children. But, according to new data, more parents are taking a critical step to protect their youngest kids. According to Truveta, a health care data and analytics company, 20% of Texas children younger than 2 years old who got a measles vaccine received their measles vaccine early to help prevent the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention usually recommends children get their measles vaccines starting at 1 year old, but amid the measles outbreak, the CDC said in March that children can get their measles vaccines starting at 6 months old. Truveta found that the percentage of children getting vaccinated starting at 6 months old in March and April 2025 markedly increased from 2019, when the U.S. had a measles outbreak with a total of 1,261 cases. Nina Masters, the senior applied research scientist at Truveta, told HuffPost that this data is good news. 'This means that parents are trying to protect their kids early,' she said. Texas has seen its worst measles outbreak in nearly 30 years. Measles, a viral respiratory illness, is one of the most contagious diseases, and a vaccine is the best protection against it, according to the CDC. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services, has been at the forefront of spreading conspiracy theories about vaccines for years. After an unvaccinated 8-year-old Texas girl died of measles last month, Kennedy attended her funeral and then conceded that the combined measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine is the most effective way to prevent the disease, though he continues to push alternative treatments and describe vaccination as an individual choice. Katherine Wells, director of public health for Lubbock, Texas' health department, did not respond to HuffPost's request for information, but she told NBC News in February that the city's health department has been vaccinating children from families who didn't believe in vaccines before. 'People are more and more nervous,' Wells told NBC News. 'We've vaccinated multiple kids that have never been vaccinated before, some from families that didn't believe in vaccines.' Truveta's data only included children who received care from a health care professional at least three times in their first year of life. But Texas' measles outbreak has largely affected the unvaccinated, like the Mennonites, an Anabaptist Christian group whose members are typically underimmunized. 'We do know that because we imposed some criteria that children [should] be seeing a provider three times in the first year of life, this does reflect a population that is seeking health care,' Masters said. 'So if individuals who are not vaccinating their children are also not seeking health care, we wouldn't expect those people to be included in the study.' Steven Nolt, professor of history and Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told ABC News in March that the Mennonites who live in Seminole, Texas, in the western part of the state — also known as Low German Mennonites — came from Mexico, where, from the 1920s to the 1980s, they were mostly isolated. 'My point is, the so-called Low German Mennonites from Mexico, now in west Texas, don't have that minimum baseline of mid-20th century vaccine acceptance that we see among Old Order Mennonites and Amish in the U.S. because the folks in Seminole missed the whole mid-century immunization push, as they weren't in the U.S. at that time,' Nolt told ABC News. Measles Cases In The U.S. Just Hit 1,000. RFK Jr. Still Isn't Taking It Seriously. RFK Jr. Tells CDC To Go All In On Bogus Vitamin 'Cures' For Measles RFK Jr. Spreads Misleading Measles Vaccine Claim Amid U.S. Outbreaks
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Measles outbreak in Texas is spreading beyond the Mennonite community: Officials
When the first measles cases were confirmed in western Texas, health officials said the infections primarily affected the Mennonite community. Mennonites, who are part of the Anabaptist Christian church, have a small presence in the United States -- and Texas in general -- but they have a large presence in the South Plains region the state, and in Gaines County, which is the epicenter of the outbreak. Many Mennonite communities are close-knit and under-vaccinated, which may have contributed to the spread of measles among members of the community. MORE: Measles vaccinations are increasing in some areas hit hard by cases: Officials But health officials are starting to see cases spread beyond the Mennonite population. It is spreading beyond this community, "unfortunately," Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock -- which is located in western Texas -- told ABC News. "West Texas is where the spread of these cases are right now, and we need to make sure that everybody in West Texas is getting vaccinated and is aware of measles and understands the precautions that we need to take." The outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with a total of 327 cases in at least 15 counties, according to new data published Tuesday. Nearly all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. At least 40 people have been hospitalized so far. Just two cases have occurred in people fully vaccinated with the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, according to the data. Wells acknowledged that it may be easy for people to assume measles is only affecting a small and insular group like Mennonites and that nobody else is at risk. "West Texas, you might say we're small and insular compared to Dallas and some other areas," she said. "But no, this has, unfortunately, moved into many, many different populations." "So unfortunately, it is growing and continues to grow," she continued. Marlen Ramirez, a community health worker and program coordinator at Vaccinate Your Family, which is an advocacy group based in Eagle Pass, Texas, shared a statement with ABC News, saying, "As a Community Health Worker living and working in a rural border town, I see firsthand how quickly diseases like measles can spread when vaccination rates are low and access to care is limited." "While the initial measles outbreak in western Texas affected members of the Mennonite community, the virus easily spreads wherever communities are under-vaccinated—and right now, we're seeing cases reach into rural parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas," Ramirez added. "In many of these areas, vaccination rates are below 90%, well below the 92-94% needed for community or 'herd' immunity. That's what has allowed this outbreak to grow to over 300 cases so quickly. We fear the number of actual cases may be much higher than reported due to confusion and delays in the outbreak response," she said. MORE: As measles cases rise across the US, who may need another vaccine 'booster'? A spokesperson for DSHS confirmed to ABC News that the first cases in the outbreak were among Mennonite community members, but this is no longer the case. "Since 90% of unvaccinated people exposed to the measles virus will become ill, there are many cases in people who are not part of the Mennonite community," the spokesperson said. "We do not ask a person's religious affiliation as part of our case investigation process, so we have no way of counting how many cases are part of the Mennonite community and how many are not." Steven Nolt, professor of history and Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told ABC News that culturally conservative and Old Order Mennonites have traditionally been under-immunized or partially immunized. He said there are no religious teachings or bodies of religious writings that prevent Mennonites from being vaccinated. The DSHS spokesperson also added that that Mennonite religion is not "widely against vaccination." "Reasons are not religious but reflect everything from less frequent engagement with health care systems (for those who are more rural) to a traditional outlook that replicates practices of parents and grandparents more than the most current practices," Nolt said via email. For example, culturally traditional Mennonites may have participated in mid-20th century vaccination campaigns against diseases like smallpox, leading to their children and grandchildren trusting those vaccines compared to more recent additions to the immunization schedule, Nott said. He added that Mennonites may also be influenced by the opinions of their neighbors, which may play a role in lack of vaccination. Nolt also explained that the Mennonites who live in Seminole, Texas, a city at the center of Gaines County -- a community known as Low German Mennonites, due to the language they speak -- "lived in relative isolation in Mexico from the 1920s to the 1980s." "They missed out on the mid-century public health immunization campaigns in the U.S., be they polio or smallpox or whatever (the Mexican government had a reputation for not engaging with the Low German Mennonites at all)," he wrote. "Thus, they are starting from a different place than other culturally conservative Mennonites whose ancestors have been here since the 1700s." Nott went on, "My point is, the so-called Low German Mennonites from Mexico, now in west Texas, don't have that minimum baseline of mid-20th century vaccine acceptance that we see among Old Order Mennonites and Amish in the U.S. because the folks in Seminole missed the whole mid-century immunization push, as they weren't in the U.S. at that time." Measles outbreak in Texas is spreading beyond the Mennonite community: Officials originally appeared on
