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Published Saturday, January 1,
2005, in the San Jose Mercury News
Pals honor late woman
with fundraising effort
PROGRAM AIDS SPECIAL-NEEDS, AT-RISK YOUTHS
By HOLLY HAYES / Mercury News
When Valerie Boshears was in the hospital for the last time, battling the cancer that would take her life in January 2002, she was surrounded by a group of loyal friends who wanted nothing more than to celebrate her life.
``We mostly comforted her, did some crying, laughed, listened to music, joked around and rested, whenever possible, with her,'' says Betsy Kodres of San Jose, who proudly lists herself among the women who call themselves ``Val's Pals.''
``She never complained and was very courageous to the end,'' Kodres says. ``She died with a smile on her face.''
Today, Val's Pals continue to get together. And this year, when they saw the Wish Book story about the Red Ladder Theatre Company, they did a little fundraising in Val's memory. Red Ladder, a social outreach program of the San Jose Repertory Theatre, uses play-acting techniques to help at-risk and special-needs young people build problem-solving skills.
``Val was a costume designer and very involved in theater,'' says Kodres of her friend, who designed and sewed hundreds of costumes over the years for dozens of Children's Musical Theater of San Jose productions. ``That's how most of us met her.
``She would be thrilled to know she has helped with costumes one more time,'' says Kodres of the donation that will help Red Ladder build its costume and prop wardrobe. ``Maybe they can think of her as their `theater angel.' ''
For 22 years, thousands of Mercury News readers have helped neighbors in their communities through the Wish Book.
Wish Book readers are invited to earmark their gifts to particular stories or causes, or to make general contributions. Donations of any size continue to be welcome and are tax-deductible.
If more money comes in than is needed for a specific wish, we'll use the extra funds to pay for other wishes in the series. Money left over will provide camp and class scholarships to families who can't afford these experiences for their children.
Many readers dedicate their donations in honor or memory of loved ones. Others give anonymously. Following is a partial list of donors:
Martha F. Anderson, in honor of Warren E. Anderson; Andy Anh; Roberta and Bob Archibald, in memory of Scott C. Seifert; Matthew, Deborah, Brandon and Katherine Au; Toni and Michael Baggett; Richard and Bonnie Ballard; Jim Barbeau; Steve and Elisa Baroni; Therese Beaver, in honor of Marilyn; Surinder Bedi; Lawrence Bender; Barbara Bennetti; Niraj, Sanjay, Ranjan and Kiran Bhatt; the Binell family; Pilar and David Boisvert, in honor of Virginia Jimenez; Christina Borges; Barbara Brananan; Kevin and Khin Khin Brock; Gwyneth Brown, in honor of Grace and Harvey Brown; Janet Burdick and Scott Miller;
Larry and JoAnn Caban; Anita and Hal Calkins; Carolyn Campbell, in honor of the Tim and Mitzi Fant family; Jim and Joanne Campbell; Roy Capaldo; Lawrence Carr; Florentino J. Carreño, in memory of Michael Douglas Thacker; Barbara Casaretto; Chihming Chen; George and Ruth Chippendale; Anita Chiu, in honor of S.C and C.Y. Liu; Nora Chuang; Ron and Carol Clazie; Vince and Stella Coates; Anna M. Cook; Peggy Costa;
Robert and Mary David; Nancy Dean; Susan and Frank Dean; Dan and Linda Dentone; Raj and Bina Desai; Fred and Cassandra Dotzler; Betsy Drew; C. Edmonds; A. Elfrink; the Field family; Loretta Field; Maureen Ford; Roy and Marion Fox, in honor of Adam, Matthew, Katie and Jeffrey; Angelina Fraire, in honor of Carolyn G. Heck; William and Lois Frantz, in honor of Bernie Mulroy; Bruce Frederick; Jake and Jessie Frediani; Sharon Fuqua;
Sondra Gafford; Marjorie Ganz; Girlfriends' Luncheon 2004; Chandra Gopi; Dorothy and Linda Guelfo, in honor of Dorothy Spackman; Mr. and Mrs. Taft A. Hanna, in honor of Taft Hanna and Stephen Northway; Marcia Harper, in memory of Dale K. Harper; Sandra Hartman; Maggi Hawkes; Gary Hazlewood; Mr. and Mrs. John B. (Jack) Healey; Mary L. Henderson, in honor of Carolyn Thomas; Diane M. Hildebrand; Ivy Ho; Kelly Hoaglia; Yu Hogan; Marlene and Walt Hoskins; Rebecca Pamela Humphreys;
Jane Iverson, in honor of Laverne and Walter Mendonca; Bob and Loretta Jaramillo; Rose Kavanaugh; the Kearns family; Mimi Kearns; Cecilia J. Keehan; Julie Ann Keir; Keller Williams Realty/Cupertino Team; Bruce and Roberta Kirk, in honor of Nora Ensor; Janet Koval; Jasmine Kuen, in honor of Candace and Erica;
Ingrid Lai, in honor of Frank Lai; Lester H. Lange, in honor of Elva Lange Bailey; Beverly Larsen; Carol Lathrop; Laurelwood School, Room 11, Santa Clara; Jeffrey Le; Paula and Bill LeBlanc; Gary Li; Sian R. Lindsay, in honor of Grace Beveridge; Elaine and Bob Lingard, in honor of Milly Archer and Connie Lingard; Los Gatos High School Girls Powder Puff; Ruth Lucier; Alison Lundin; Jeannie Lutticken;
Janet and David Maich; Walker Mannes, in honor of Peter and Irene Medwed; Mary Marshall; Karen Massaro, in honor of Barbara and Richard Austin; Maqdooda Merchant; Ruthann McIntosh; Hannah, Emma and Lydia Miller, in honor of Kitty Sanford; Gloria S. Montgomery; Karen Moraida; Ron and Susie Morris; Ms. Mosher's 2nd period class, New Valley High School, Santa Clara; Jane Moss; Kip A. Mowder, in honor of Andrew Hill High School night schoolers; Robin Mulgannon, in honor of Maxine Mulgannon; Patricia Munoz;
Richard and Linda Nedved; Evelyn Nelson; Hang Nguyen; Joan Nishimoto; Jessica E. Nixon; Peter and Kay Nosler; Heather and Katie O'Donnell; Kathy Olavarri; Sally Owyang, in honor of Dr. B. Owyang; Young J. Paik, in honor of Sharon Paik; Mary M. Patterson, in honor of Margaret B. Cross; Pete's Home Theater and Car Audio; Kyle Phalen; Martha and Steve Porter; Lou and Margo Poulain;
Marie-Laure Rada; Juanita Ragone; Eric and Maureen Reeves; Charleen Renati; Donald and Marilyn Richardson; Juan and Lucy Rodriguez, in honor of Henry and Mary Louis Sr.; Ruth and Dick Rosenbaum; Barry and Alicia Rosenstock; Diane Ross; Helen Ross, in honor of the Phil and Dan Ross families; Phil Russell, in honor of our grandchildren; Jacqueline Sanders; Maria E. Scott; Marilyn Shea; Sue Short; Alan Shulman, in honor of Riley and Anna James; Gene and Pat Simon; Jon and Linda Soule, in honor of West Valley Presbyterian Church Dinghys ship; Kevin and Elizabeth Smith;
Phillip Teav; Lorraine Teresi; Alice Theriault, in honor of Brett Golden; Nancy Thomas; Mr. and Mrs. Milton Thompson, in honor of Peyton Sofie Joos; David, Ha, Dan and An To, in honor of Cathy Cha and children; Moira Turner; Rose-Marie Twu; Billie June Vernon; Dianne Voecks;
Liselotte Wallberg, in honor of Monika and Lars Tingsall and Lars and Zora Wallberg; Chris Walsh; Michael Wassom; J. Rae Weller, in honor of her family; the Wickler family; Betsy Wienckowski; Tom Wittick, in honor of Tom and Austin Wittick; Sue A. Yee-Bryan; Rivka Yerushalmi; Anthony Young-Harry; Sandra G. Zari; Mavis Zill; Sally Zurcher, in honor of Janet Varnell.
• Also, special thanks to a neighborhood group in San Jose: Linda Aboud, Linda Brown, Richard and Delores Gates, Paul and Cheryl Guersch, Jerry and JoAnn Opp, Phil and Joyce Robba; Ron and Cheryl Sanchez, Marc and Nikki Shank and Serge and Carolyn Talbot.
Here's how you can help fulfill a wish:
ONLINE:
When you read the Wish Book stories, links to donate are included,
so that you can earmark your donations through our secure server.
BY
MAIL :
Click here to download*
a Holiday Book donation form. Simply fill it out, attach your check
or credit card information and mail it to the Mercury News, c/o
Wish Book Fund, 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
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form, you will need Acrobat Reader. Free Acrobat downloads at www.adobe.com/acrobat.
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