Life is measured in moments... Make every moment count. Why not start the New Year in your new home! Call us today about our Holiday Move In Specials. Independent Living Personalized Assisted Living Exceptional Experiences Every Day SM 32290 1st Avenue South, Federal Way, WA 98003 (253) 838-8823 www.brookdaleliving.com Exceptional Experiences Every Day and Respect for Individual Preferences are Service Marks of Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Nashville, TN, USA. 17920-ROP01-1209 BY JACINDA HOWARD [email protected] For a select few Federal Way residents, Christmas is all about spreading the joy and hanging hundreds upon hundreds of lights. For residents David and Connie Kelliher and neighbors, and Diane Cole and family, decorating for the holiday begins in November and lasts until the new year. eir homes are decked out in count- less twinkling lights and creative festive displays. ey draw more than the attention of passersby. ey evoke lasting memories — for the families and those who come to see their light spectacles. Kelliher household David and Connie Kelliher live at 29918 S. 300th Place. ey are one of several residents in the neighborhood off 1st Avenue South who annually brave the weather to hang lights. e effort begins anksgiving weekend. By Dec. 1, the Kelliher’s home, and those belonging to the majority of their neighbors, are lit up. Contrary to popular belief, the lights are not stipulated by the homeown- ers association, David said. Residents wish to respect others and their right not to celebrate a Christian holiday, David said. But light displays are strongly encouraged. Only about six homes do not display exces- sive lights, he said. “It’s really picked up a lot,” David said. “As people move in, you know, they have to keep up with the . com FEDERAL WAY M IRROR YOU’LL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR | 50¢ SPORTS | Best in the West? Eagles make quite a statement in Portland [14-16] GUEST COLUMN | For Christmas, all you need is love and an empty box [7] $80,000 SETTLEMENT | City settles lawsuit with former court employee [3] VOL. 10, NO. 197 DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23, 2009 OPINION | Roegner: 2009 was a challenging year in politics [4] Hobbs: How the military shapes the Internet’s evolution [4] TAX REBATE | Low-income seniors and disabled residents can get a rebate [2] SCENE AND HEARD | Readers share their photos of local happenings [10] [ more LETICIA page 8 ] Let there be (lots of) lights School grants student’s graduation wish Graduation ceremony: Leticia Grandos is escorted by Pek Chantol and Anthony Duong on Dec. 18 at Federal Way High School. Leticia has always wanted to graduate high school, so her school gave her that wish. KYRA LOW, The Mirror BY KYRA LOW [email protected] Her wish has come true. Escorted by classmates, Leticia Grandos walks in, smiling brightly, to the notes of “Pomp and Circumstance.” Her family snaps pictures and wipes away tears, just like any other proud family. But this isn’t like any other graduation. At age 16, Leticia is dying and likely won’t make it to her own graduation ceremony. Her leukemia is terminal, and she doesn’t have much longer to live. Leticia is a junior this year, getting mostly A’s and taking AVID classes at Federal Way High School. Leticia has always wanted to graduate high school, so her school gave her that wish. Her family is here to witness this event. ey are here not only for her graduation, but also to spend one last Christmas with her. Flying in from California, Mexico and El Salvador are aunts, cous- ins, uncles and grand- parents. Leticia’s mother, brother, father and godmother are all here, celebrating her graduation and life. e gym is a sea of pink. Her classmates, teachers and Federal Way family are supporting her in the best ways they know how. Under banners of “We love you Leticia” they stand, in pink shirts, scarves, hats and sweats — a visible sign of their love. e school always hosts a holiday assembly. About a month ago, the gradua- tion for Leticia was added to the program, and anticipation among the students has been build- ing ever since. Leticia walks in to cheers and a standing ovation. Leticia’s last Christmas [ more LIGHTS page 2] Above: David and Connie Kelliher annually go all-out when decorating their home for Christmas. The couple live at 29918 S. 300th Place. The neighborhood is known for its Christmas lights. Nearly every home is lit up from 6 to 10 p.m. from Dec. 1 to Jan. 1. Right: Diane Cole’s granddaughter, Jessica Lam, has gathered lights for about four years. This display is set up in Cole’s front yard, along with several other twinkling attractions, at 905 S. 293rd Place. JACINDA HOWARD, The Mirror Neighbors embrace holiday decorations Joneses. e pressure’s on every year.” e annual routine began in the early 1990s, David said. It started as an effort to attract possible home- buyers. It turned into much more. Residents in this neigh- borhood, including the Kel- lihers, do not disappoint. A large gingerbread house is the main attraction at the Kelliher place. A blowup snowman and penguin, lighted igloos, glowing shrubbery and lighted candle window displays make the place a favorite.
FWM.kyra.leticia1223
Mar 28, 2016
VOL. 10, NO. 197 YOU’LL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR | 500 Why not start the New Year in your new home! Call us today about our Holiday Move In Specials. shrubbery and lighted candle window displays make the place a favorite. DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING GUEST COLUMN | For Christmas, all you need is love and an empty box [7] $80,000 SETTLEMENT | City settles lawsuit with former court employee [3] SCENE AND HEARD | Readers share their photos of local happenings [10] [ more LIGHTS page 2]
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L i f e i s m e a s u r e d i n m om e n t s . . .Make every moment count.
Why not start the New Year in your new home!Call us today about our Holiday Move In Specials.
Independent LivingPersonalized Assisted LivingExceptional Experiences Every DaySM
32290 1st Avenue South, Federal Way, WA 98003
(253) 838-8823www.brookdaleliving.com
Exceptional Experiences Every Day and Respect for Individual Preferences are Service Marks of Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Nashville, TN, USA.
17920-ROP01-1209
BY JACINDA HOWARD
For a select few Federal Way residents, Christmas is all about spreading the joy and hanging hundreds upon hundreds of lights.
For residents David and Connie Kelliher and neighbors, and Diane Cole and family, decorating for the holiday begins in November and lasts until the new year. � eir homes are decked out in count-less twinkling lights and creative festive displays. � ey draw more than the attention of passersby. � ey evoke lasting memories — for the families and those who come to see their light spectacles.
Kelliher householdDavid and Connie
Kelliher live at 29918 S. 300th Place. � ey are one of several residents in the neighborhood o� 1st Avenue South who annually brave the weather to hang lights. � e e� ort begins � anksgiving weekend. By Dec. 1, the Kelliher’s home, and those belonging to the majority of their neighbors, are lit up.
Contrary to popular belief, the lights are not stipulated by the homeown-ers association, David said. Residents wish to respect others and their right not to celebrate a Christian holiday, David said. But light displays are strongly encouraged. Only about six homes do not display exces-sive lights, he said.
“It’s really picked up a lot,” David said. “As people move in, you know, they have to keep up with the
.com
F E D E R A L W A Y
com
F E D E R A L W A Y
MIRRORYOU’LL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR | 50¢
SPORTS | Best in the West? Eagles make quite a statement in Portland [14-16]
GUEST COLUMN | For Christmas, all you need is love and an empty box [7]
$80,000 SETTLEMENT | City settles lawsuit with former court employee [3]
VOL.
10, N
O. 19
7DI
VISI
ON O
F SOU
ND P
UBLI
SHIN
G
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23, 2009
OPINION | Roegner: 2009 was a challenging year in politics [4] Hobbs: How the military shapes the Internet’s evolution [4] TAX REBATE | Low-income seniors and disabled residents can get a rebate [2]
SCENE AND HEARD | Readers share their photos of local happenings [10]
[ more LETICIA page 8 ]
Let there be (lots of) lights
School grants student’s graduation wish
Graduation ceremony: Leticia Grandos is escorted by Pek Chantol and Anthony Duong on Dec. 18 at Federal Way High School. Leticia has always wanted to graduate high school, so her school gave her that wish. KYRA LOW, The Mirror
BY KYRA LOW
Her wish has come true.Escorted by classmates,
Leticia Grandos walks in, smiling brightly, to the notes of “Pomp and Circumstance.” Her family snaps pictures and wipes away tears, just like any other proud family.
But this isn’t like any other graduation. At age 16, Leticia is dying and likely won’t make it to her own graduation ceremony. Her leukemia is terminal, and she doesn’t have much longer to live.
Leticia is a junior this year, getting mostly A’s and taking AVID classes at Federal Way High School. Leticia has always wanted to graduate high school, so her school gave her that wish.
Her family is here to witness this event. � ey are here not only for her graduation, but also to spend one last Christmas
with her. Flying in from California, Mexico and El Salvador are aunts, cous-ins, uncles and grand-parents. Leticia’s mother, brother, father and godmother are all here, celebrating her graduation and life.
� e gym is a sea of pink. Her classmates, teachers and Federal Way family are supporting her in the best ways they know how. Under banners of “We love you Leticia” they stand, in pink shirts, scarves, hats and sweats — a visible sign of their love.
� e school always hosts a holiday assembly. About a month ago, the gradua-tion for Leticia was added to the program, and anticipation among the students has been build-ing ever since.
Leticia walks in to cheers and a standing ovation.
Leticia’s last Christmas
[ more LIGHTS page 2]
Above: David and Connie Kelliher annually go all-out when decorating their home for Christmas. The couple live at 29918 S. 300th Place. The neighborhood is known for its Christmas lights. Nearly every home is lit up from 6 to 10 p.m. from Dec. 1 to Jan. 1.Right: Diane Cole’s granddaughter, Jessica Lam, has gathered lights for about four years. This display is set up in Cole’s front yard, along with several other twinkling attractions, at 905 S. 293rd Place. JACINDA HOWARD, The Mirror
Neighbors embrace holiday decorations
Joneses. � e pressure’s on every year.”
� e annual routine began in the early 1990s, David said. It started as an e� ort to attract possible home-buyers. It turned into much more.
Residents in this neigh-borhood, including the Kel-lihers, do not disappoint. A large gingerbread house is the main attraction at the Kelliher place. A blowup snowman and penguin, lighted igloos, glowing
shrubbery and lighted candle window displays make the place a favorite.
[8] www.federalwaymirror.comDecember 23, 2009
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“Success is measured by the impact we make,” school board president Tony Moore said. “Your life is a great success, as measured by all your classmates. It is with great joy that I accept you as a graduate of our district.”
In just a few minutes, her diploma is accepted and her tassel is turned to the other side. � e gym erupts in applause, and the students and sta� give her a standing ovation. � e students begin chanting in sections, “We...Love...You...Leticia.”
� en, accepting � owers from dozens, she walks out of the gym for a graduation party with her family.
“It’s amazing,” Leticia said. “It’s so surprising. I had no idea at all.”
Support from her Federal Way family
� e students have rallied around Leticia.
� ey have made cards,
Dying student gets her graduation wishLEARN
MORE
“I am Lety”I wonder about my high school graduationI hear doctors talking about me, pump alarms going o� , and my own thoughtsI see mid-November doing Mother Nature’s course outside my windowI want to be told when I can go homeI am a positive and successful young ladyI pretend I’m a mermaid roam-ing through the oceanI feel like I am a rare � ower in a garden � lled with stunning � owersI touch the bricks of my grand-parents’ house in MexicoI worry about my younger brother in his “teenage phase,” if I’m going to receive a passing grade for all my classesI cry often when I think about if I don’t get cured, I picture the su� ering my mother and family would feelI am a positive and successful young ladyI understand the risks that I’m taking (research study chemo-therapy)I say “I’m � ne, thank you” as an answer to every questionI dream of being free of needles, blood transfusions and bone marrow testingI try to be the best daughter I can be, give the best of meI hope to inspire others in any way I canI am a positive and successful young lady— Leticia Grandos
A poem by Leticia
ornaments and cookies, and also wrapped presents for Leticia and her family. Two students made a donation cup out of a venti Starbucks cup and construction paper, then raised more than $200 in two days.
� e school’s Sparrow Club has adopted her. On Wednesday, more than 60 students spent over an hour wrapping presents for the family and making more cards. A large group of students went to Leticia’s house, and the jazz choir sang to her as the line of students went out the door.
“I am very thankful to all the people,” said her mother, Carmen Grandos, through a translator. “God bless everyone.”
� e Sparrow Club and IGNITE program have also put together a $1,000 an-nual scholarship in Leticia’s name.
Saying goodbyeLeticia was � rst diag-
nosed with cancer four years ago. � ey tried � nd-ing a bone marrow donor, said her godmother, Leticia Riojas.
Riojas was there when she was born, and yes, Leticia is named for her godmother. Although a bone marrow match was eventually found, Leticia wasn’t healthy enough for the transplant.
Leticia has fought the cancer since, but now that � ght is just about over. She is no longer taking any medication other than morphine for the pain.
For most of the week, she was so sick the family wasn’t sure she would be able to come to her gradua-tion on Friday.
To say it’s an emotional time for her family is an understatement.
“It feels good to know my daughter is happy,” Carmen said. “But I am saddened because I know her time is getting close. But I am seeing it in a new light. My daughter is an example to all other youth to � ght to get a good education.”
“I think she is at peace with herself,” Riojas said. “She’s a happy person.”
Leticia has told her
[ LETICIA from page 1]
teachers she’s not worried. She told them to stop cry-ing and to smile. She knows her Federal Way family will watch out for her brother David.
For Leticia, on her last Christmas, what she is looking forward to most of all is “being surrounded by family.”
How to helpIf you would like to help
the Grandos family or do-nate toward the scholarship, contact Melissa Gollegly at (253) 945-5449 or Federal Way High School at (253) 945-3200.
Graduation ceremony:
Leticia Grandos is
escorted by classmates
on Dec. 18 at Federal Way High School.
Leticia has always
wanted to graduate
high school, so her school gave her that
wish. “It’s amazing,”
Leticia said. “It’s so
surprising. I had no idea
at all.”
KYRA LOW,The Mirror
MLK week returns to HighlineDr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week is having its 18th year at
Highline Community College this year. � e event runs Jan. 19-22. It is free and open to the public. � is year’s event features local service activists and revolutionaries who played a role in the Civil Rights movement in Washington. To learn more, e-mail [email protected].
Emergency preparedness training
In response to a citizen survey issued this past summer, the City of Fed-eral Way will o� er more emergency preparedness courses in 2010.
More than 70 percent of the 157 respondents showed an interest in taking classes that will help them better prepare for an emergency. Classes on constructing an emer-gency supply kit, � rst aid, earthquake preparedness and more will be o� ered.
Neighborhood Emer-gency Team training will take place Jan. 25. Community Emergency Response Team training will occur Feb. 4. Prepare 101, where attendees will learn how to build an emergency kit, is scheduled for Feb. 20. Basic � rst aid and CPR is o� ered monthly through South King Fire and Rescue.
For more information, visit www.cityoffederalway.com/prepare.