82 The Chronicle of the Horse

Coleen Keenan-HerssonEvent rider and organizer Coleen Keenan-Hersson of Rixeyville, Va., died on March 3 at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Va. She was 63.

Mrs. Keenan-Hersson was born on Oct. 24, 1952, to Patricia and Lt. Col. Daniel Richard Keenan. Because her father was in the military, Mrs. Keenan-Hersson’s family traveled a lot, and she fell in love with horses as a child while living in Libya. Her first horse was an Arabian.

Her family returned to the United States in the late ’60s and hunted with the Bull Run Hunt (Va.).

Mrs. Keenan-Hersson and her husband Noel Hersson shared a love of horses. The couple was married after attending the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm. They enjoyed eventing, foxhunting and pleasure riding.

“She was meticulous,” said Noel. “She did all the preparation for me when I was eventing. It was teamwork.”

Mrs. Keenan-Hersson was a member of the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association, and she organized CDCTA Horse Trials from 1994 to 2015. She was instrumental in moving the event from Commonwealth Park (Va.) to Great Meadow (Va.) in 1995 in order to upgrade it from a novice and training competition to an upper-level event, even running a CCI* and CCI** at Great Meadow in 2001 before scaling it back to a smaller show in Culpeper (Va.) in 2005.

“It meant everything to her [to orga-nize the horse trials],” Noel said. “She loved it. She was always behind the scenes and always had a hand every-where if she could help.”

Though she retired from organizing last year, Mrs. Keenan-Hersson was also influential in moving the horse

trials from Culpeper to its new loca-tion in Berryville, Va. She was the CDCTA vice president of eventing from 1993 to 2013 and received the

CDCTA Volunteer of the Year award in 1995.

Emmett Turner, a long-time CDCTA volunteer, nominated her for a U.S. Combined Training

Association (now U.S. Eventing Association)

Governor’s Cup in 1999. “I nominated her for recognition

for bringing eventing back to Great Meadow,” he said.

“Coleen was always dreaming up new equestrian pursuits,” said her friend Elaina Evans. “With her dogged toughness and headstrong attitude, Coleen always got the job done.”

“She’s deeply missed, especially by me and the family and the horse world here in Virginia, but also the horse world all over,” said Noel.

Mrs. Keenan-Hersson is survived by her husband, Noel Hersson; mother Patricia Mary Keenan; brother Daniel Michael Keenan; and her sister Theresa Ann Keenan Wilson.

In lieu of flowers, memorial dona-tions may be made to the Equine Rescue League at P.O. Box 4366, Leesburg, VA 20177 or your favorite animal rescue charity.

Kimberley Grayce RoachJunior rider Kimberley Grayce Roach of Amherst, Ohio, was found unre-sponsive in a pasture and pronounced dead due to blunt force trauma to the head on March 31 at Paradise Farm in Aiken, S.C. She was 12.

Ms. Roach was born on August 9, 2003, in Houston to Mark and Mary Roach. She attended seventh grade at Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville, Ohio, where she participated in the choir and played basketball and volleyball.

“She was an absolute animal

fanatic. She loved them to pieces and never saw anything wrong with any animal,” said her trainer, Holly Taylor of Blue Ridge Farm in North Ridgeville. Ms. Roach dreamed of becoming a veterinarian and volun-teered at her local Friendship Animal Protective League.

Ms. Roach had been riding at Blue Ridge Farm for more than a year and competed in unrecognized hunter/jumper shows aboard school horses. Her parents had just purchased the 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood-Thoroughbred gelding Just Floor It, or “Deuce,” as their daughter’s first horse. Ms. Roach had traveled with her family and fellow riders to Paradise Farm in order to work with her new horse. There were no witnesses to the accident.

“She was one of those kids who was happy about life,” said Danielle Parrish, director of the middle school at Lake Ridge Academy. “Horses were her great love. She was so excited about her trip down south to get her new horse.”

“You never saw this child without an enormous smile on her face,” said Taylor. “She’s the type of kid who wasn’t shy—she would talk to anybody.”

The Roaches released this state-ment after their daughter’s death: “She was the light of our lives and will be deeply missed. Her smile was conta-gious, and her true loves in life were her family and friends, her dog Tank, and her horse Deuce.”

Ms. Roach is survived by her parents, Mary and Mark of Amherst, Ohio; her siblings, Jake, Chase, Austin and Kenzie Roach of Amherst; and her grandparents, John and Jean Kasper, and Jim and Gloria Roach.

In lieu of flowers, memorial dona-tions may be made to the Friendship Animal Protective League of Lorain County, 8303 Murray Ridge Road, Elyria, OH 44035. Her family has also requested friends share photos of Ms. Roach over social media using the hashtag #rideforgrayce.

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