Hi, I'm Sean Valley.  In November of 1990, as I was rehearsing with the show choir I was in in college a family friend came into rehearsal and said she needed to talk to me.   We went into the office and she told me that my parents had just called her and that my mom had been diagnosed with Leukemia.  I didn’t know anything about Leukemia except that it killed people.  Immediately a fraternity brother (Jason Janda, who was later my best man) drove me home 350 miles, to be with my family.  The next morning my mom had three root canals finished so that the oncologists could begin chemotherapy.  We spent that Thanksgiving at Black Hills Medical Center in Olympia, Washington.  Fortunately for my dad, my brothers and I we had family nearby, but mom wasn’t so lucky, she stayed in the hospital and ate a hospital Thanksgiving dinner. 

I went back to school after a week or so, and during that time my mom was released from Black Hills and very quickly admitted to the University Of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.  Bad enough to have Leukemia, but for a die-hard Washington State Cougar fan to have a hospital room that over looked the entrance to Husky Stadium was awful.  She had incredible doctors at the UW, and they took good care of her, most were well aware of Mom’s Cougar roots and they were quite alright with that.  This was no longer a football game.  We spent Christmas at the University Of Washington Medical Center; opening presents with the whole family around Mom.  We didn’t have a tree, we couldn’t even have fresh flowers because the chemo had knocked mom’s immunity so low.
 
 After Christmas I went back to school and spent the spring semester of my senior year in college traveling back and forth between the U-Dub Med Center, Crimson Company shows and school.  Studying was mostly done at the Cougar Cottage, a Greek Row eatery and malt shop (when my mom and dad were in school).
 
 In March Crimson Company always went on tour.  We performed one night at Wilson High School in Tacoma.  That was the first time I had seen my mom in a month.  She looked awesome.  I saw her before the show and went into the dressing room and cried.  I was so excited and her hair looked better than it ever had.  Of course, it was a wig, but it still looked great!
 
 The next few months were difficult as I tried to finish college, and deal with a mom in the hospital with a life threatening disease.  I graduated in May, and Mom was not able to make the trip, but Dad and my brother Scott, rented a fancy Miata and came to Pullman to see me go through ceremonies.  After graduation I headed home hopeful of finding a job and my mom’s recovery.
 
 I landed a job in June at the local radio station, KMAS, doing the overnight shift.  I also agreed to direct a musical for a community theater project.  I was so excited on July 17^th, my mom was coming home.  We ran through rehearsal and I got home as fast as I could.  I think I got home before Mom and Dad and was really excited to see them.  My brother, Eric, had moved home from New York at this time so there were four of us living in the house.  It was like 1978 again (Scott had gone to college by then). 
 
 The next week was surreal.  With constant trips to the hospital for tests, a hospice nurse to care for mom at times during the day (I wouldn’t discover the meaning of hospice until later – I was naïve). 
On July 24th I said goodbye to Mom and Dad and Eric and I went to rehearsal.  Rehearsal was going very well, I went backstage to get a drink of water and saw a police officer walking into the auditorium.  Immediately, I asked how I could help, after all I was the director, someone from my cast must’ve done something illegal. 
 
 He said, “I need to talk to Sean Valley.” 
 
 I stopped in my tracks.  I wouldn’t let him finish. I could tell from the look that something was wrong. I simply asked, “Is it my mom or my grandma?” (Grandma Verna was in a nursing home at the time).
 
 "The one who’s at home.”
 
 Fighting the urge to cry I hopped in my car and drove to the hospital.  “It’s nothing big,” I told myself, “she just had to go in for something minor.”  I hadn’t let the police officer tell me what he came to say. 
 
 When I walked in the front doors of Mason General Hospital I saw my dad at the counter on the phone.  I noticed Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters playing on the Muzak above.  I heard Dad talking to my brother Scott say, “Your mom died, she’s here at the hospital.” 
 
 I was devastated, unfortunately I wasn’t surprised, and to be very honest, I knew that Mom was much more comfortable with God than she had been in the past seven months.  She fought the good fight.  Friends came and prayed with us, we had more kind words than you can ever imagine.  But none of that was going to bring back my mom.
 
 I had to make a hard decision.  Eric told me that Mom was in the emergency room, and Dad said if I wanted to say goodbye, I could.  I knew if I went in and looked at my mom I would forever have that image in my brain, but if I didn’t I would forever be sorry that I didn’t get to say goodbye.  So I went in and said my goodbye
 
 We had an incredible memorial service for Mom.  The church was packed with friends, family, former students, co-workers, everyone was there.  Friends of mine from Crimson Company came from all over the state, even the director Roger Kelley came, it was truly an awesome celebration of an incredible life.