Sennott, McCarthy remembered

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - 29-year-old Jessica McCarthy and 30-year-old Julie A. Sennott, can be remembered best for their work with youth in this area.
McCarthy worked at Wabash Valley Hospital and Sennott worked for Department of Child Services.
 

"We describe her as peppy," said Department of Child Services Director Angela Smith-Grossman for Tippecanoe County.
 

Smith-Grossman said Sennott and McCarthy, both friends, met a few years ago at the Community and Family Resource Center.

Julie's father, James Sennott said his daughter was very talented, but her choice of work came as a shock. 

  "Very involved in sports, especially through her high school years and her college years. To be honest, we were just a little bit surprised when she elected social work right out of college," said James Sennott.

Julie's decision to work with children in Tippecanoe County was the right one. Smith-Grossman said Sennott a very responsible worker.

"She's an extremely intelligent and driven woman. I don't think I've ever met a harder worker. But, I don't think I've ever met somebody that's had so much passion for her work. Everytime she would be in complaining about anything that would be going on, she'd always say, "..but I love my job," according to Smith-Grossman.

Julie's favorite place was the Tippecanoe County juvenile court under Judge Loretta Rush. Rush canceled her hearings for the day to remember Julie and said she will be missed.

"Julie Sennott was a hero. She came to court, she was prepared. She worked for families and children. Her goal was to make sure children were safe and that families had the resources and the help they needed to get on the right track," said Rush, Tippecanoe County Superior Court Three Judge.

Julie's mother, Mary Sennott, said her daughter did a lot of work in a short amount of time and she would

"Somebody said to me if somebody gave you a child and told you they were going to take them back in 30 years, would you still want them? I'd have to say there's no way I would have missed out on that," said Mary Sennott.

"We'll be able to laugh and talk with her and about her and joke about how she would be reacting to the situation that we're in. The parts of our together time, she'd loved it when we were doing this and, gosh, she'd hated if we were doing this right now. We're going to be able to talk about that for years to come," said James Sennott.

Jackie Pfeiffer, Julie's identical twin sister, said she will always carry her sister with her.

"I am her and she is me. I know that this was God's plan for her and that she did so much here on earth helping others. She's got some things to do in heaven," said Pfeiffer.

Julie Sennott was engaged to be married, in May, to 33-year-old Michael Dunlap, who survived the crash Saturday.  He said he met Julie through the child welfare business. 

"She put forth everything she could to help every child she could," said Dunlap."
 

Dunlap also said McCarthy was one of Sennott's best friends.  He said McCarthy's loss was just as great.

29-year-old Jeffery Schwindenhammer survived the crash as well.  Schwindenhammer and McCarthy married in June of 2007.

Julie also has an older brother John Sennott.