Final Profile Draft

Katie Amber Bunnow took the last name of Eric Raquet on Sept. 9, 2006. Her father attended the event even though the scars remained from his burns and one of his ears was completely missing.

The one thing everyone attending the immaculate wedding noticed about her father was the large smile on his face.

At the age of 17, Katie Raquet spent about one year living and bickering with her older brother Stevie Bunnow after a car accident left her father in Chicago’s intensive care unit, with their mother by his side.

Katie Raquet’s father, Steve Bunnow, took a part-time job driving a semi truck to earn enough money to buy snowmobiles for him and his son. Bunnow was driving in Chicago when a car cut him off, leading to his semi hitting a pillar of a bridge. The truck he was driving exploded and launched him through the windshield.

Suffering severe burns and broken bones, Katie Raquet said her father spent about one year in Chicago and an additional six months in Milwaukee recovering. During that period, her mother was a factory worker and spent the majority of her time by her husband’s side.

Katie Raquet said living without her father and mother was not only difficult financially, but that her brother was going through a “bad stage” in his life. She said he became a “big drinker” and a “pot head” at the age of 18 and would invite friends, sometimes exceeding 30, to party in their home while their mother was in Chicago.

However, the hardships and unhappiness of the past were washed away once she met, dated and married Eric Raquet.

“She is beautiful and funny,” Eric Raquet, 24, said. “That is a rare combination.”

Now Katie Raquet, 24, can be found wearing her pajamas, complimented by fuzzy slippers as she softly moves about the kitchen of her three-bedroom ranch house located in Howards Grove, Wis. At the height of 5 feet 4 inches, Katie Raquet needs to stretch her arms to reach the cupboards.

Her hands guide her brown bangs away from brown eyes when she throws her head back, her gleaming white teeth revealed when she lets out a good laugh. Friends of the couple are often found within the home, enjoying a drink and exchanging jokes.

“She is pretty funny…for a girl,” family friend Dave Royer said.

A former member of the Catholic Church, she now attends the United Church of Christ. Katie Raquet considers herself to be a “hardcore Republican” and enjoys a comfortable lifestyle as she continues to work.

She became a medical assistant at the age of 18 for the Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs without any experience. The position she holds requires a degree and she joked they must have hired her “just for fun.”

Even though she enjoys the life she lives, Katie Raquet said she does feel disappointed that she never enrolled in a four-year college. Her voice softens and her eyes look towards the ground when she speaks about dropping out of Lakeshore Technical College during the process of becoming a dental hygienist.

With all her credits earned and only the dental program to complete, Katie said her current job of being a medical assistant was too good to let go. However, she still has ambitions to finish what she started.

Katie Raquet said her relationship with her family is much better. Both she and her brother have grown up and put their qualms aside, her father is healthy and happy to be alive, and she continues to better know the new members on her husband’s side.