I was reading The Arizona Republic while eating my cereal Monday morning when something made my stomach upset.

No, it wasn’t the new bananas I bought the day before. And the blueberries were still good. It was the sensation that overcame me after seeing a familiar name printed in a story brief in The Republic identifying the woman who was killed on Saturday at the gas pump area at the north Scottsdale Costco.

I had read the original story the day before but the victim was not identified. It only said a 74-year–old woman had been struck and dragged by an 86-year-old man driving a Jeep SUV. The Monday followup story identified the woman as “Patricia A. Covault.” The story did not say where she was from.

I picked up my phone and called Editor Mike Scharnow. I asked him if he knew whether it was “our” Pat Covault.

He confirmed my worst fears.

“She was just in here to bring me a story on Thursday,” he said.

That was something she had been doing for many years. She was active with the Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church. Husband Bill and daughter Pat are talented musicians.

She publicized the concerts they would put on in the community. They also ran a booking agency drawing on many talented entertainers for fund-raisers for the church.

They are also close friends with singer and guitarist Jeff Dayton, who performed in early November. In fact, she sat next to me at the concert.

Whenever she stopped in she would stick her head in my office door and say “hi.” Her greeting was always accompanied with a smile. She truly was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

My thoughts are with the family. We will miss her at The Times office. A memorial service is set for 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 17, at the Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church.

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On a brighter note, local Realtor Phyliss Kern was returning from Minnesota this past weekend when she pulled out the U.S. Airways’ in-flight magazine from the pouch in front of her. As she flipped through the pages she ran across three stories written by Charlie Vascellaro, who grew up in Fountain Hills.

He is now a freelance writer living in Baltimore and he specializes in stories about baseball and travel. The stories in the magazine were about the addition of the new Cubs stadium to the Cactus League venues, rookies to watch in Spring Training and one on plans for a permanent location for a Cactus League history exhibit.

Charlie worked at The Times, covering sports, when he was a student at Arizona State University.

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With the year wrapping up, I traditionally used this column to tell you the weather totals for the year, so here are the statistics for 2013.

Total rainfall for the year at the official U.S. Weather Service station at Fountain Park was 8.82 inches.

The warmest day of the year was 115 degrees on June 29. Contrast that with the coldest temperature recorded and that was 23 degrees on Jan.14.

The first 100 degree temperature of the year was on May 13 and the last was when we reached 101 on Sept. 20.

The biggest one day total for rainfall was 1.35 inches on Sept. 9.