Caroline Clabaugh, ’03, followed her big sister, Liz, ’95, to Stanford. Liz studied human biology while Caroline majored in computer science, but the sisters had the same love for the mountains and often met to ski in the Sierra Nevada. “They made a huge effort to have adventures together,” says Liz’s husband, Jeff Johnson, ’95, MS ’96. “They were best friends.”
EXPLORERS: Sekar and Clabaugh. (Photo: Courtesy Clabaugh/Sekar/Johnson Family)
On their final adventure, backcountry skiing on a professionally guided trip in the Sierras, the sisters, along with four close friends and three guides, were killed in the deadliest avalanche in California’s history. Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho, and Caroline Clabaugh Sekar, 45, of San Francisco, died on February 17, skiing to the trailhead after two nights at Frog Lake. Their friend Carrie Atkin, the wife of Peter Atkin, ’02, also died in the avalanche.
“[Caroline] was most happy in the mountains with her family and her friends,” says her husband, Kiren Sekar, ’02. The two started dating after college, skiing and rock-climbing together. The day before the sisters left for the backcountry trip, they skied with family and friends in Tahoe.
The sisters grew up in Southern California before moving to Washington state, where they attended high school.
“I met my soulmate on my first day at Stanford,” Johnson wrote in an email. “Everyone (including me) immediately fell in love with her charisma.” After graduation, Liz joined the Peace Corps in Zambia. In 2000, she earned a nursing degree at the University of Washington and then worked as a perinatal nurse educator in Hawaii and as a labor and delivery nurse in New Hampshire and New Mexico before moving to Idaho. For the past six years, she directed a graduate nursing residency program, training hundreds of new nurses, at St. Luke’s Health System in Boise.
Johnson says that his wife was always looking for the next adventure. Together they traveled to 40 countries and lived for extended periods in Ecuador, Chile, and Italy.
“The outside was her special place,” says Liz’s 18-year-old daughter, Ella Johnson. Their last family trip took them to the island of Vanuatu. “I don’t know many moms who would pick out a bat in a marketplace, eat it, and climb a volcano. She was the best mom.”
As an undergraduate, Sekar joined the Bermuda Computing Curriculum Project, developing a computer science curriculum for the island’s public schools. Her early career spanned several technology companies—including Apple, Oodle, SolutionSet, and Cisco Meraki—before she opened a consultancy to build community platforms.
Sekar’s gift, friends say, was bringing people together. She scheduled carpools, held potlucks, planned ladies’ nights out, and organized family trips to go hiking, mountain biking, skiing, and rafting. Friends remember that she would listen for hours as they navigated divorce or death. They also recall her easy generosity, dashing over with baby gear at a moment’s notice or showing up with flowers for their birthday.
“She was just incredibly caring and thoughtful,” says Brenna Lord, ’03, MS ’04. “We’d go for hikes and see these elderly women and say, ‘Well, that will be nice someday.’ ”
In addition to her husband and daughter, Clabaugh is survived by her son, Charles. Sekar is survived by her husband and two children. Both are survived by their parents, Ted and Vicki Clabaugh; and brothers, Mark Hitchcock and McAlister Clabaugh.
Tracie White is a senior writer at Stanford. Email her at traciew@stanford.edu.
