NEWTOWN, CT (WFSB) –
In less than 10 days, we will mark the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where on Dec. 14, 2012, 20 children and six adults lost their lives.
Over the next 26 days, Eyewitness News will share a little about each person’s life and how their families are honoring their legacies.
Chase Kowalski was a charming 7-year-old spirited triathlete, and his story is changing lives and inspiring so many people. Eyewitness News talked to his parents, who wanted the world to know what a great kid he was.
“Chase is an inspiration to so many people to get off the couch to lose weight,” Chase’s mom Rebecca Kowalski said.
Along with being a triathlete, Chase played baseball and rode motorbikes. At the age of 6, he took on challenges many adults find too difficult and finished them.
Rebecca and Steve Kowalski are the keepers of Chase’s legacy, and are helping other children get physically fit.
They are working with the YMCAs in Waterbury, Trumbull and Danbury to help youngsters learn about the things Chase loved so dearly.
“We just want Chase to be remembered for the great spirit that he really was,” Kowalski said. “The athlete that he was and the potential he had swim, bike, run.”
The Kowalski’s hope to start triathlons all around the country in Chase’s memory.
Rebecca and Steve said they are being driven by Chase to spread his word. Last December, Chase came to Rebecca in a vision, and he has been with her for the past year.
“He is our CEO in the sky, a little bit from heaven. He has guided us through everything,” Kowalski said. “He really has put things in place before we knew they would happen. We follow his lead and we are open to any signs he gives, and we’re open to anyone who wants to join in his journey.”
Eyewitness News asked Rebecca and Steve if they see signs of Chase. Rebecca said she constantly sees signs of her son through rainbows.
“Whether it is a prism rainbow to the side, or my sunglasses fill with a rainbow it happens. It happens,” she said. “I know he is with us.”
Eyewitness News asked Rebecca and Steve if Chase gives them strength.
“Every day, my heart misses him desperately, but I know he is changing so many lives with what he has done, what he accomplished in seven years,” Kowalski said. “I look back and I remember he would always ask me about his last name. ‘What do you mean mom?’ ‘How do I keep my last name going?’ I said, ‘When you get married and you have babies and you have a boy, the name continues on. For the Kowalski’s, you are the last one for that,’ and that was important to him. So now we are helping that happen. Chase Michael Anthony Kowalski will never be forgotten.”
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