Debby Anderson-blacker-darvell:  

I recently returned to Moscow after a severe auto accident to recuperate and to hopefully return to college in the fields of Anthropology/Archaeology/Native American Linguistics/NWPacific Arena. I am a retired para-educator in Special Education in the elementary and secondary levels. I am now single and have raised two children, a boy(25 yrs old) and a girl(21 yrs old) who is staying w/me until I can get around better. I enjoy sci-fi,golden oldie music,the outdoors, beading, arts & crafts, learning most anything I can. I enjoy helping people, cooking, dancing, socializing, gaming, long drives, making poetry, swimming,and blackberry jam. I like to laugh, hug, and to hold hands. My favorite hero is Jay C. Westergreen. For many years he secretly took poinsettas to all his friends mothers for Christmas, including my mother. It made her day. He always made sure the moms had a box of chocolate on Mother's Day, whether he could afford it or not, he'd always find a way. One winter, I believe it was 1969, it was particularly harsh, Jay took his snow shovel around to every single friends' mom and shoveled out their cars, making sure they were snow free. He made sure I would never smoke by giving me a Camel Straight and telling me to inhale deep. I darn near choked to death. Jay also taught me how to drive in gravel, snow, sand, wet pavement, mud, and hay fields. He gave me the confidence to learn some mechanics and some carpentering. Jay made sure I knew more about self-sufficiency than any one else had tried to do. He was my big brother, my confidant, my hero. When he contracted pneumonia in early 2008, he was a bit stubborn about seeing a doctor, mostly because he knew deep inside something awful was wrong. Two months later he couldnt deny it anymore, and the dr confirmed it.Lung Cancer-Stage 3. Not one complaint from Jay. He expressed some fear once in a while, on the whole he accepted his fate, was at peace with it and continued. He got better then did what he wanted. He drove all over Latah county, helping people here and there. He tried to get hold of a few old mates to say goodbye and right a few wrongs but could not find most of them. He had married long ago to a very confident and independent woman, whom I also admired. He went through all the stages of acceptance of his fate, finding further that his heart could fail him before the cancer could take him. The meds took his legs out from under him often, taking his pride, as he had to ask for help to walk, to eat as he got weaker. He tried an experimental juice and rallied almost winning the race against the cancer, when his heart failed. My best friend, teacher, valiant k...Expand for more