Tag Archives: death

In Memoriam

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Another reminder. Life is fragile. Don’t take tomorrow for granted.

Last weekend Julia Ann Rutherford was hiking on Aasgard Pass Southwest of Leavenworth with her boyfriend and two other friends when she slid down a snow face and disappeared over an edge into an opening about 5 feet wide. She was found trapped between a boulder and snow, partially submerged in extremely cold water.

After reading this obit, I regret our paths never crossed.

Julia Ann Rutherford

(December 12, 1989 – July 3, 2011)

Julia Ann Rutherford

Julia was born on December 12, 1989 to Kelly and Bertha (Wold) Rutherford in Tacoma, WA and passed away July 3, 2011 due to a tragic hiking accident. She was named after her maternal grandmother. In kindergarten, she was suspended five times for expressing her individuality, intelligence and leadership skills. In junior high, she came and announced to her parents she would be playing football. She told them, “due to title 9, they can’t stop me”. By eighth grade, the boys had grown, she had not, and so she took up fencing instead. She had a natural talent for music, playing the oboe, flute, saxophone, piano and finally choosing the clarinet. She played the clarinet with the Eatonville music program and Tacoma Youth Symphony. She attended and graduated from Eatonville High School in 2008 as a National Merit Scholar. She applied to numerous universities and was accepted to nine out of the ten she applied to; including Yale. Instead, she chose to attend Pacific Lutheran University to be near her family. She completed three years double majoring in physics and chemistry and planned to achieve her doctorate and become a research scientist. While attending PLU she was active with the orchestra, chamber choir, bicycle club, and chemistry club. She recently received a National Student Leader Award from the American Chemical Society. Julia was an accomplished fencer and loved bicycling, sailing and hiking. Julia lived her life with no regrets. Everything she did, she did with passion giving 110%. She will be sorely missed and remembered by her loving family, many friends, colleagues, and PLU community.

Choosing When to Die

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I suppose it’s human nature to avoid thinking about death. I strive not to take my health, my loved ones, and all of the numerous things I enjoy for granted, but if I’m honest with myself, I have to admit to slipping in and out of “life is fragile, don’t take it for granted, make the most of the present” consciousness. I turned 48 a few weeks ago which means I’m almost certainly on the back nine.

Tuesday’s Frontline Film was titled “The Suicide Tourist“. I found it engaging and provocative. This paragraph is from an interview with Mary Ewert, the wife of Craig Ewert who has A.L.S. and in the film travels from Chicago to Switzerland to end his life. Mr. Minelli is the founder of Digitas, the Swiss organization that has helped 1,000 people end their life.

“Mr. Minelli and Craig take a matter-of-fact view of death — we all will die some day. They are able to reflect on how people, including themselves, die. In contrast, our society places an inordinate emphasis on the emotional aspect of dying, urging patients to fight death, to be brave warriors in the face of death. The decision to quietly, gracefully accept and welcome death is at odds with the emotional battle against death. Both are ways of dealing with death, one is not better than the other. However, both approaches should be respected. I fear that acceptance of death is still viewed as somehow bizarre and frightening, something to be forbidden.”

I went into the film without having given much thought to the website’s follow up discussion question: Is Craig Ewert’s decision to end his life a choice that everyone should have? Having watched the film, I’m inclined to answer in the affirmative. Now I think I’ll skim the online discussion and see what others think. How about you?