Luminaries

I've always liked the idea of luminaries - not sure when I heard about them. But in recent years, during the Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society puts luminaries around the track and people will write the name of someone that they want to remember or commemorate during the Relay. So, when my nephew's school fundraiser had Christmas luminaries for sale in their catalog, I bought some - but I still need to figure out how to do lawn lights for them. I found another set of luminaries the other day that were made to go out on the lawn and my dad helped me set them up. Here is the picture at night - forgive my camera as it doesn't have a strong flash.



In keeping with the ACS's practice and after reading Doug's blog, I decided that I'd dedicate the luminaries to those individuals that I know who have died from cancer. So, the five lights seen in the picture are for my uncle Gabriel Muktoyuk, who died in February 2006 from pancreatic cancer; my auntie Margaret Penatac, who died in May 2008 from lung cancer; my grandmother, Gladys Kingston, who died when I was 19 from kidney cancer; my grandmother's mother, Clara Shellenberger, who died of colon cancer; and Jane Easton, who died in June 2008 of colon cancer. My uncle Gabe was a great supporter of my research and I'm very close to his kids; my auntie Margaret was always cheerful even though there was a lot that happened to her - she served fresh baked bread to Teddy Kennedy; I was close to Grandma Kingston - she lived near us most of my life; I don't remember great-grandma very much, but I think I met her when I was small; and I think I remember seeing Jane around town and started reading her blog near the end of her life in May. The blog address was on a fundraiser flier so I started reading it and have continued to read Jane's husband's blog afterwards. With the luminaries, their lights are still shining. I will be remembering them this holiday season.

Rest in peace, everyone.