Empathetic, loving, caring, loved to dance, sing and cook
Bree was a sweet, caring and empathetic person. Even when she was young, she would take the hands of toddlers and help them walk down steps, caring for their safety. She also liked to be in the kitchen, standing on a chair, helping her mom. She loved figure skating on roller skates, spending every weekend at the rink and she share-boarded a horse, Andromeda (Annie), for a time. She loved all animals and liked wearing animal patterns, especially Cheetah prints on her clothing.
Bree’s biggest love, and where she really excelled, was in dance. She took lessons in ballet, point, hip-hop, tap and modern dance, and many others. At one recital she had so many dance numbers she was given a private dressing room just offstage, where her mother helped her with quick changes. Her mom also accompanied her to the dance studio for a salsa night where she danced every dance until 2AM; people were awed by her talent at such a young age. When she was a little older, she acted as an assistant at the dance studio, helping with the younger children’s classes. “She was amazing at everything she put her heart into,” her mom said.
Recognizing that Bree was gifted, her Kindergarten teacher recommended testing which revealed a very high IQ. She was tracked into gifted classes, but she protested because she wanted to be with her friends. At 12, she began using marijuana and soon hung out with others who were using drugs, something she hid well from her parents. Despite her extreme intelligence, she didn’t apply herself to school and dropped out prior to graduation.
Bree worked for a time in a pizza shop and a catering hall and imagined having children and opening a restaurant she would call Packy’s Place. Packy was an affectionate nickname given to her by her dad. Bree soon learned she was pregnant and was devastated when her baby was born prematurely in the summer of 2018. Serenity, named after the serenity prayer and weighing only 15oz., lived only two hours. The following year, as the anniversary of Serenity’s birth and death was approaching, Bree struggled with sobriety. She passed away in June 2019.
Her mother can still see Bree, walking around the house singing and making up dance routines with her nieces, Layla and Charlotte, and snuggling up on the couch to watch movies with them. On that same couch, Bree and her mom spent countless hours watching Netflix together. “During those times, life stood still, there were no worries,” her mom said. Bree also valued time with her dad, Brian, her brother Jesse, and sisters, Brittany and Jennaviere.
Bree had success in her sobriety several times. “The hardest part was seeing her do well, thinking she had beat it, only to relapse again,” her mom said. ‘I look at other people with addiction and think about their parents and wonder how they are coping; when I reflect about parents who have lost their kids, I am surprised we are all still breathing, it doesn’t seem possible.’
Bree’s mother, Jennifer Logue, provided the information for this narrative.
April 19, 1997-June 22, 2019
Age 22-Lived with the disease of addiction 10 years
