In Loving Memory

Leta Currie-Marshall 20th April 1956 - 20th February 2009

The morning of 20th February was incredibly lovely, with almost Spring-like weather, and Leta had
gone for a walk in the sunshine to a neighbor's house. She had a cup of tea and a great visit with
our good friend Suzie Teague. She made it almost home afterwards and I found her laying within
twenty feet of our back door. Her heart had stopped and I did not see her laying there soon enough for
anything to be done to save her. She was 52 years old and had lived under the threat of something like
this happening most of her adult life. She had Hodgkin's when she was twelve and almost died from it,
but massive radiation treatments saved her and gave her forty more years of life. But with a price. She
had serious damage to her heart and lungs, and her chances of living to any great age were not good.
My Dear Wife lived each day the way every one of us should, knowing it could be her last, and this
proved to be an ironic blessing over the twenty nine years of our marriage. We made life decisions
around her condition, moved to the beautiful Pacific Northwest for a better environment, and we never
wasted a single day arguing or bickering. We never went to bed upset at each other over anything, ever.
In that twenty nine years, we enjoyed more togetherness than most marriages of any greater length.
We awoke each morning, rain or shine, to see what that precious day offered and how we could best
use it. Leta was active in the community and had a long career as a respected journalist in our county.
We raised a wonderful and talented daughter,Wendy, who is now an artist in Portland. The last year of
her life, Leta knew that her time was running out. She had less energy and began to focus on her singing
and other things that were the most important to her. In December 2008, we learned that for her to live
much longer it would require a heart and lung transplant. And because of serious calcification around the
arteries near her heart and around the valves themselves, her chances were not very good of surviving the
horrendous surgery. In the end, she was spared this awful ordeal and had a quick and relatively painless
passing, for which I am deeply grateful. Leta loved life but at the same time faced death with tremendous
courage and composure, and to the end with a smile for those around her, a joy to everyone who knew
her.  We saw at her memorial party one of the largest crowds to ever fill our community centre.  She had
a deeply spiritual grasp of life and believed very strongly in a universal conciousness and overall creative
force for good, which we all become part of again on our passing from this earthly existence. She felt
there are no coincidences, that all things are intimately connected, and that the tiniest actions, good or
bad, had permanent consequences. I will always feel eternally priviledged that this wonderful person
consented to spend her life with me and to share her days with me in marriage and loving friendship.