Kate Braestrup Biography

We encounter disturbing stories about missing persons almost every day in the news. The searches and the work of local police and other teams involved are well-publicized, while the families' privacy is well shielded, kudos to experienced and empathetic search-and-rescue specialists like Kate Braestrup. Kate Braestrup's true story, Here If You Need Me, begins with a recurring memory: the last time she saw her husband, a Maine State Trooper, Drew, alive. Kate Braestrup, a young mourning mother of 4, alive Kate coped with his death by becoming a Unitarian Universalist minister and, later, the pastor for the Maine Warden Service. When persons are reported missing, this organization conducts search-and-rescue operations. Kate's role in the procedure is underestimated but significant. She celebrates with the parents of a 6-year-old girl after she is discovered alive after an extensive search. She was the first ever to inform a wife that her husband's snowmobile crashed through the ice and he did not survive the bitterly cold water. She got to witness miraculous rescues of people who have fallen hundreds of feet into rocky canyons, as well as swaddled babies left in the cold by suicidal drug addicts. She is often present when no one else is, to share smiles and tears of happiness – as well as gut-wrenching groans of heartbreak. In her truly memorable autobiography, Here If You Need Me, she writes about how these experiences change everyone associated, including herself. Kate's profoundly affecting writing complements her vast and sometimes astounding experiences, and she is just as moving and impassioned in person. She brings to life the reality and difficulties of a sometimes unbearable subject that continues to haunt millions of people every day – whether in the headlines or one's yard – with self-confidence and elegance. Onion (Viking, 1990) is her novel, and she has authored for Mademoiselle, Ms., City Paper, Hope, and Law and Order. Her husband, Simon van der Ven, and their 6 kids reside in Maine. The Barnes & Noble Discover Award in Nonfiction was given to Here If You Need Me. At the dais, Kate talks about coping with the death of a loved one whose work is dangerous; how belief has helped her in her searches; which of her case scenarios was the most difficult to work on; and what it means to be the Maine Warden Service's first pastor. “As a memoirist and minister, Kate Braestrup's role is to ponder why unfortunate things happen to good people and, as a young widow, to accept that death comes for its own purposes and on its own plan. This she accomplishes with style and grace.” From the Boston Globe

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