Potter Premiere Marks 'Bittersweet' End for Family Tradition

While thousands of people across the country will head to the midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" tonight to celebrate the end of the series, one Port resident and her family have reason to consider it a "bittersweet" ending.

Annie Bahringer, aunt to Kathryn Ribecky of Campbellsport, is heading to the movie to remember Ribecky, who was killed in a car crash in 2006 at age 19

"(Harry Potter) was one thing that bonded me and my nieces together," Bahringer said. "(Kathryn) passed away a few years ago, so the whole family goes to the movie premieres in her honor."

Bahringer, who works at the W.J. Niederkorn Library and studied as a literature major, said she and several family members read the Harry Potter series together.

Eventually she got up to ordering five copies of each Harry Potter series off Amazon, and even held a "waiting for the postman" party for the arrival of the fifth book.

Bahringer and Ribecky began sending text messages to each other about the book as they were reading it, checking in on the chapter progress and talking about the storyline as the books progressed.

"It was kind of neat to be able to talk to (my nieces) on that level," Bahringer said. "It was just fun."

The accident that took Ribecky's life happened just three days after Christmas, when she was driving back home after a trip to check out a school in Madison. It also happened just before the release of the last Harry Potter book, and just shortly after the birth of her first nephew.

Bahringer recalled Ribecky holding her nephew, as tears of joy rolled down her face.

"'Now you know how I feel,'" Bahringer had said to Ribecky about their own relationship.

Bahringer's arm also showcases a tatto that reads, "Just think happy thoughts," which she designed to also incorporate the phoenix — a symbol used in the Harry Potter series that represents life and death, Bahringer said.

Even though this will be the last Harry Potter premiere in Ribecky's memory, it's not the only way the family continues to honor her.

At the time of her death, Ribecky was enrolled as a music major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In Ribecky's honor the family holds an annual Brewers tailgating party, which also raises funds for a scholarship to go to a graduate of Campbellsport High School who plans to major in music.