www.houstonchronicle.com Open in urlscan Pro
151.101.64.200  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

GET /search/

<form class="pageHeader--search-form" action="/search/" method="get">
  <input type="hidden" name="action" value="search">
  <input type="hidden" name="firstRequest" value="1">
  <input type="hidden" name="searchindex" value="solr">
  <div class="fieldset">
    <input class="pageHeader--search-input" id="search" name="query" type="text" value="" placeholder="Search" aria-label="search">
    <button class="searchButton btn" value="" name="search" type="submit" aria-label="search"></button>
  </div>
</form>

Text Content

Skip to main content
Houston Chronicle Homepage
Currently Reading
When her parents went viral, people thought she was dead. A Houston HOA duck
feud's latest twist.
Next Up:10 flights for less than $100 from Houston this...
 * Subscribe Subscribe
 * e-Edition
   
 * Sign In
   
   
   
   


 * Subscribe
 * Legals
   * Classifieds Marketplace
 * Local News
   * Houston
   * Suburbs
   * Education
   * Immigration
   * Environment
   * Health & Medicine
 * Texas Sports Nation
   * Texans
   * Astros
   * Rockets
   * Dynamo & Dash
   * College
   * High School
 * Business
   * Fuel Fix
   * Texas Inc.
   * Real Estate
   * Top Workplaces
   * Retail
   * Tech
 * Food
   * Restaurants & Bars
   * Restaurant Reviews
   * Barbecue
   * Recipes
 * Lifestyle
   * Religion
   * Home & Garden
   * Home Design
   * HC Magazine
 * ReNew Houston
   * Wellness
   * Nutrition
   * Fitness
   * Health
 * Preview
   * Movies & TV
   * Music
   * Arts & Exhibits
   * Classical
   * Dance
   * Theater
 * Politics
   * Houston
   * Texas
   * U.S. & World
 * Interactives
   * Texas Flood Map
   * Top 100 Restaurants
   * Power Outage Tracker
 * Opinion
   * Editorials
   * Letters to the Editor
   * Columnists
   * Essays
 * Newsletters
   * The 713
   * Morning Report
   * Afternoon Report
   * Breaking News
 * Investigations
 * Podcasts & Video
 * e-Edition
 * Obituaries
 * Shop the Chronicle
 * Archive
 * Careers
 * TV Listings
 * Puzzles
 * Privacy Notice
 * Terms of Use

 * Subscribe
 * Local News
   * Houston
   * Suburbs
   * Education
   * Immigration
   * Environment
   * Health & Medicine
 * Opinion
   * Editorials
   * Letters to the Editor
   * Columnists
   * Essays
 * Interactives
   * Texas Flood Map
   * Top 100 Restaurants
   * Power Outage Tracker
 * Shop the Chronicle
 * Puzzles

 * Texas Sports Nation
   * Texans
   * Astros
   * Rockets
   * Dynamo & Dash
   * College
   * High School
 * Business
   * Fuel Fix
   * Texas Inc.
   * Real Estate
   * Top Workplaces
   * Retail
   * Tech
 * Legals
   * Classifieds Marketplace
 * Podcasts & Video
 * Archive
 * Privacy Notice

 * Preview
   * Movies & TV
   * Music
   * Arts & Exhibits
   * Classical
   * Dance
   * Theater
 * Food
   * Restaurants & Bars
   * Restaurant Reviews
   * Barbecue
   * Recipes
 * Politics
   * Houston
   * Texas
   * U.S. & World
 * e-Edition
 * Careers
 * Terms of Use

 * Lifestyle
   * Religion
   * Home & Garden
   * Home Design
   * HC Magazine
 * ReNew Houston
   * Wellness
   * Nutrition
   * Fitness
   * Health
 * Newsletters
   * The 713
   * Morning Report
   * Afternoon Report
   * Breaking News
 * Investigations
 * Obituaries
 * TV Listings

 * Subscribe
 * Local News
   * Houston
   * Suburbs
   * Education
   * Immigration
   * Environment
   * Health & Medicine
 * Politics
   * Houston
   * Texas
   * U.S. & World
 * Investigations
 * Obituaries
 * Careers

 * Texas Sports Nation
   * Texans
   * Astros
   * Rockets
   * Dynamo & Dash
   * College
   * High School
 * Business
   * Fuel Fix
   * Texas Inc.
   * Real Estate
   * Top Workplaces
   * Retail
   * Tech
 * TV Listings

 * Preview
   * Movies & TV
   * Music
   * Arts & Exhibits
   * Classical
   * Dance
   * Theater
 * Food
   * Restaurants & Bars
   * Restaurant Reviews
   * Barbecue
   * Recipes
 * Podcasts & Video
 * Shop the Chronicle
 * Puzzles

 * Lifestyle
   * Religion
   * Home & Garden
   * Home Design
   * HC Magazine
 * ReNew Houston
   * Wellness
   * Nutrition
   * Fitness
   * Health
 * Interactives
   * Texas Flood Map
   * Top 100 Restaurants
   * Power Outage Tracker
 * Privacy Notice

 * Opinion
   * Editorials
   * Letters to the Editor
   * Columnists
   * Essays
 * Newsletters
   * The 713
   * Morning Report
   * Afternoon Report
   * Breaking News
 * Legals
   * Classifieds Marketplace
 * e-Edition
 * Archive
 * Terms of Use

 * Subscribe
 * Local News
   * Houston
   * Suburbs
   * Education
   * Immigration
   * Environment
   * Health & Medicine
 * Legals
   * Classifieds Marketplace
 * e-Edition
 * Archive
 * Puzzles

 * Texas Sports Nation
   * Texans
   * Astros
   * Rockets
   * Dynamo & Dash
   * College
   * High School
 * Food
   * Restaurants & Bars
   * Restaurant Reviews
   * Barbecue
   * Recipes
 * Privacy Notice

 * Business
   * Fuel Fix
   * Texas Inc.
   * Real Estate
   * Top Workplaces
   * Retail
   * Tech
 * Lifestyle
   * Religion
   * Home & Garden
   * Home Design
   * HC Magazine
 * Terms of Use

 * Preview
   * Movies & TV
   * Music
   * Arts & Exhibits
   * Classical
   * Dance
   * Theater
 * ReNew Houston
   * Wellness
   * Nutrition
   * Fitness
   * Health

 * Opinion
   * Editorials
   * Letters to the Editor
   * Columnists
   * Essays
 * Newsletters
   * The 713
   * Morning Report
   * Afternoon Report
   * Breaking News
 * Obituaries
 * Careers

 * Politics
   * Houston
   * Texas
   * U.S. & World
 * Interactives
   * Texas Flood Map
   * Top 100 Restaurants
   * Power Outage Tracker
 * Investigations
 * Podcasts & Video
 * Shop the Chronicle
 * TV Listings




MOST POPULAR


10 flights for less than $100 from Houston this February

Infamous Midtown McDonald's is demolished. So what's next?

Rockets trade Eric Gordon, reacquire John Wall in three-team deal

Astros' Kyle Tucker will make $5 million after arbitration loss

Santa Fe families reach settlement with ammunition seller

Astros agree to deal to add Oxy jersey patch for 2023 season

What to do when your mom goes viral and people think you're dead

Galveston boat captain accused of keeping ashes for sea burials

Rockets to re-sign center Boban Marjanovic

Watt weighs in on whether to join Texans staff



Local // Housing


WHEN HER PARENTS WENT VIRAL, PEOPLE THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD. A HOUSTON HOA DUCK
FEUD'S LATEST TWIST.

R.A. Schuetz, Staff writer
Jan. 30, 2023Updated: Jan. 30, 2023 2:38 p.m.

Comments

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

4
1of4

Alicia Rowe, who read about her own death online, in a story about her
parents, poses for a portrait outside of her home in Austin, Texas on Jan. 21,
2023.

Montinique Monroe/ChronicleShow MoreShow Less 2of4

Alicia Rowe poses for a portrait in her home in Austin, Texas on Jan. 21, 2023. 

Montinique Monroe/ChronicleShow MoreShow Less 3of4

The back of Alicia Rowe’s shirt on Jan. 21, 2023. 

Montinique Monroe/ChronicleShow MoreShow Less 4of4

The back of Alicia Rowe’s shirt on Jan. 21, 2023.

Montinique Monroe/ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Alicia Rowe, an Austin therapist, first came across news of her death in a
British tabloid.

The Daily Mail had run a story online about how her parents, Kathleen and George
Rowe, had been sued for feeding the neighborhood ducks after feuding with their
homeowners’ association in Cypress.

The article offered zero ambiguity about her demise: “Texas couple who began
feeding neighborhood ducks to cope with loss of only daughter are sued for (up
to) $250,000 by HOA for causing a nuisance and are forced to sell home to cover
costs,” read the article’s headline. 



Alicia, who is in her 30s, was the Rowes’ only child.

She stared at the article in shock. Then she wondered how she had died. She had
her suspicions.

DUCK DISPUTE: Cypress couple was sued for up to $250K by their HOA for feeding
ducks. Now they could lose their home.

When she texted friends about the surreal development, they quickly found that
versions of the story, which first ran in the Houston Chronicle in July, were
everywhere: Alicia had also died in the Washington Post and in Business Insider
India and in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The rash of stories had all come out
roughly five months earlier, and thoughts about what people who knew her parents
imagined had happened to her – what they were still thinking – niggled at the
corner of her mind.

So she called the Houston Chronicle reporter who broke the story, and the
reporter called Kathleen and George Rowe's lawyer, who called Kathleen.



The back of Alicia Rowe’s shirt on Jan. 21, 2023. 

Montinique Monroe/Chronicle

“She wanted me to communicate her apologies,” the lawyer, Richard Weaver, told
the Chronicle shortly afterward. “She reiterated her words to me. And it was
that she had lost her daughter. When she told me she’d lost her daughter, I
thought she’d passed away.”

 Five months had passed, Kathleen and her lawyer had spoken to additional
outlets and no one had asked for a correction.

Alicia had cut off contact with her mother years ago; she was estranged, not
dead. The misunderstanding, by multiple parties (for the original story, the
Chronicle had also spoken with Kathleen about the “loss” of her daughter), had
landed everyone involved in a predicament. Newspapers, as a rule, don't use
euphemisms to talk about death.  

> Twitter
> 
> — apstylebook Twitter

Months later Alicia faced a unique conundrum. In a news ecosystem where stories
can quickly go viral, then be forgotten, how exactly does one go about setting
the record straight? And in a world where family estrangements are treated as
taboo, what could news readers learn from one stumbling into the news?



Within hours of Alicia reaching out, the Chronicle issued a correction: “This
story has been corrected to reflect that Kathleen and George Rowe are estranged
from their daughter, who is still alive.” 

But Alicia knew that not even a fraction of the people who had flocked to the
story and its subsequent versions would see the corrected version. In the months
before the error was discovered, readers had moved on.

In the heyday of print subscriptions, the majority of readers returned regularly
to the same publication and could be expected to see subsequent updates. Now
it’s much harder to flag the people who may have stumbled into an online story.

A Chronicle tool charting how many people are visiting its website showed 83
people read the story in the month after the correction was issued. More than
100,000 readers had viewed the Chronicle story in the months prior.

More by R.A. Schuetz: He served 38 years for a crime he committed at 16. Now,
he's finding his way in a changed Houston.

That’s why when the Chronicle proposed this followup story about her
predicament, Alicia agreed.

“It’s this weird intersection of media, family trauma and how fast information
gets around,” she said.

Alicia said the last time she was on speaking terms with her mother was roughly
six years ago.

“There was a lot of both physical and emotional abuse in my home growing up,”
she said. Alicia said she was often manipulated through lies and misleading
information, while being presented to those outside the family as the problem
child in order to garner sympathy. That pattern led her to ask her mother to
cease contact. 

Soon after, her mother started telling neighbors that her daughter had "passed,"
Alicia said. “She had taken down all the photos of me in the house and had
planted a memorial garden to me in the backyard. I had this series of letters,
basically saying, ‘If you want people to not think you are dead, you need to
come back and talk to us and tell everybody that you are not dead.’” 

She no longer had a copy of the letters, and Kathleen did not return phone calls
about the factual dispute.

Alicia said that she had a hunch why her mom had told her lawyer and the media
that she started feeding ducks after the loss of her only child: "It’s kind of
hard to be mad at the lady with a dead daughter that just wants to feed the
ducks, right?”

Kathleen Rowe, 65, walks across the street from her home to feed a handful of
ducks on Friday, July 8, 2022, in Cypress.

Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

As a therapist, Alicia saw value in sharing her story about setting boundaries
with family members. 



“This is kind of a strange and unique situation, but not that unique. If you
start digging into it a little further, there are lots of people that have had
weird (or)... very traumatic situations with their family. It just doesn’t make
it onto the news or into print.”

Lengthy rifts like this are not unusual, according to Karl Pillemer, a professor
of human development at Cornell University. He’s been studying family
estrangement for a decade, and has written a book on the subject, “Fault Lines:
Fractured Families and How to Mend Them.”

He started studying family estrangement after researching end-of-life regrets.
He was taken aback by how many people said an unresolved estrangement was a
source of great pain. 

To understand how prevalent the problem was, he conducted a survey of 1,350
Americans asking if they had a close relative with whom they had no contact at
all. Of those surveyed, 27 percent said they did – suggesting that roughly 70
million people in the United States are in an active estrangement. One out of 10
respondents said that they were estranged from a parent or a child. 

In other words, estrangements were fairly common. What’s out of the ordinary,
Pillemer said, is a willingness to speak publicly about them. 

MAKESHIFT FAMILY: They lived among friends on Houston streets. Now, in peaceful
apartments, it can be too quiet.

“For most people, this is experienced as a shameful event. It’s one where people
feel guilty. It’s one where it’s not at all unusual for parents to not describe
it,” the Cornell professor said. 

He’s done in-depth interviews with hundreds of people in both active and
resolved estrangements, and remembered one observation on the specific kind of
grieving an estrangement can entail: “It’s the death of a relationship, but with
no funeral and no closure.”

Kathleen and George Rowe did not respond to calls for comment on this story.
They were not home at duck-feeding time on a recent Tuesday. The ducks that had
once lined up outside their porch were also gone. In their place was a “Sale
Pending” sign and a lockbox on the door. The couple was moving out. On Jan. 19,
their lawsuit with their HOA in the master-planned neighborhood of Bridgeland
settled. 

Kathleen ultimately responded to the Chronicle through her lawyer, who said,
“She wanted to keep her family matter private. But she wanted to reconcile with
her daughter.” He added Kathleen had asked for her daughter’s phone number. She
wanted to reconnect with her lost daughter.

Alicia was surprised her mother had said that. She had messaged her mother after
seeing reports of her death. It did not go well.

Alicia Rowe poses for a portrait in her home in Austin, Texas on Jan. 21, 2023. 

Montinique Monroe/Chronicle

rebecca.schuetz@chron.com

twitter.com/raschuetz

 







Latest Local News
 * Super Bowl 2023: Houston's favorite game day snacks
 * School districts participate in bracket-style reading competition
 * Houston saw a major drop in reported violent crime last year.
 * Thomas J. Henry sells enormous $7.5M Texas mansion to NBA player
 * Texas Ranger fired over his response to Uvalde mass shooting





Written By
R.A. Schuetz
Reach R.A. on

R.A. Schuetz covers housing for the Houston Chronicle. Before joining the
Chronicle, she wrote features for the Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

View Comments
Jerome Solomon
Jerome Solomon
Column: DeMeco Ryans is the right hire at the right time for Texans

DeMeco Ryans, the Texans’ new head coach, took front-and-center stage on
Thursday, and from his first words to his last, he let the world know that this
is a new day.

By Jerome Solomon

MOST POPULAR
 * Infamous Midtown McDonald's is demolished. So what's next?
 * Rockets trade Eric Gordon, reacquire John Wall in three-team deal
 * Astros agree to deal to add Oxy jersey patch for 2023 season
 * What to do when your mom goes viral and people think you're dead


 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Return to Top
 * About
   * Our Company
   * Newspaper Delivery Safety Procedures
   * Privacy Notice
   * Your California Privacy Rights
   * Interest Based Ads
   * Terms of Use
   * Advertising
   * Careers
 * Contact
   * Subscribe
   * e-Edition
   * Archives
   * Customer Service
   * Frequently Asked Questions
   * Newsroom Contacts
   * Corporate Subscriptions

©2023 Hearst Newspapers, LLC

YOUR CHOICES REGARDING COOKIES

We and third parties may deploy cookies and similar technologies when you use
our site. Please review the information below and select the cookies that you
want to enable. You can continue to the site without accepting these cookies but
certain features may not be available or function properly.

EDITORIAL, FUNCTIONALITY AND SOCIAL MEDIA COOKIES

We use third-party services for commenting, videos, and embedding posts as part
of our news coverage. The providers of these cookies may use the data as
explained in their privacy policies.
 * Twitter(Privacy Policy)
 * Facebook(Privacy Policy)
 * Select All

PERFORMANCE, CONTENT RECOMMENDATION AND PERSONALIZATION COOKIES

We use our own and third-party services to provide content recommendations and
customize your user experience and advertising. The providers of these cookies
may use the data as explained in their privacy policies.
 * Taboola(Privacy Policy)
 * Nativo(Privacy Policy)
 * Blueconic(Privacy Policy)
 * Realm
 * Select All

ANALYTICS

We use cookies to analyze and measure traffic to the site so that we know our
audience, what stories are read, where visitors come from, and how long they
stay. You can opt out of these analytics cookies by unselecting the boxes below.
 * Parsely(Privacy Policy)
 * Google Analytics(Privacy Policy)
 * Chartbeat(Privacy Policy)

Privacy Notice Continue
Privacy Settings


THE SIGN IN SERVICE IS NOT FUNCTIONING RIGHT NOW.


PLEASE TRY AGAIN IN A FEW MINUTES

If the issues continue, please contact our customer service at

Phone:

Email:


PLEASE LOG IN TO VIEW YOUR PROFILE.

Sign In
Welcome back,


PROFILE SETTINGS

Sign up for newsletters, change password and more


SUBSCRIPTION & BILLING

Place a vacation hold, make a payment and more

Sign Out


You must be signed in to comment

is currently signed in

Sign In