Ms. Herrick, a 20-year member of the club, drowned while kayaking on the Schuylkill June 28. It was the first fatality in the organization's 100-year history said Todd Zielinski, club president.

Ms. Herrick was practicing rolls, a kayak maneuver, in calm water beside the club's dock. Paramedics were called when members spotted her capsized vessel.

Ms. Herrick had paddled class-four white waters and was a certified instructor of kayaking and white-water canoeing, Zielinski said. "Nobody would ever have expected this to happen to her."

Her mother, Margaret Kerrick, said that given the family's medical history, she might have suffered a stroke or heart attack.

Ms. Herrick grew up swimming, skiing and horseback riding in LaGrangeville, N.Y. Though she had lived in the city for many years, she remained a country girl at heart, her mother said. She loved nature and grew wildflowers in her garden in the Tulpehocken section of Philadelphia, said longtime friend Teresa Brieck. She was extremely outgoing and knew everyone on the river, Brieck said.

Ms. Herrick earned a bachelor's degree from State University of New York in Plattsburgh; a masters degree in counseling from the University of Maine in Portland; and a master's degree in social work from Bryn Mawr College.

Since the early 1990s, she had worked at several area mental health centers, including Life Guidance Service in Sharon Hill; Silver Springs - Martin Luther School in Plymouth Meeting; Psychology Associates in Newtown, Bucks County; and CM Counsel in Plymouth Meeting. She was a wonderful clinician and loved working with children and adolescents, said Brieck, who is also a psychotherapist.

Ms. Herrick is survived by her mother and her father, Winfred Herrick, and cousins.

Photos of Ms. Herrick boating can be seen on the Philadelphia Canoe Club Web site, www.philacanoe.org.