September 29, 2008, 8:49 am

I recently had the honor to be invited to speak at Whitman College’s annual Women’s Leadership Symposium – a panel discussion sponsored by Colleen Willoughby (class of ’55). Colleen is a noted Seattle philanthropist who founded CityClub and the Washington Women’s Foundation, and has sponsored these symposiums for more than 20 years, bringing women to share their life stories as inspiration to generations of Whitman students and alumni.

Before the event, we were treated to a wonderful lunch at the President’s home and had a planning meeting at a classmate’s farmhouse. It was an absolute joy to get to know the other panelists – Kit Bakke, author of “Miss Alcott’s E-mail, Yours for Reforms of All Kinds” and former pediatric oncology nurse; and Nancy Sclater, executive director of the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research and Centennial President of the Rotary Club of Seattle.

September 5, 2008, 3:14 pm

It was such an amazing privilege to meet and chat with Maria Strauss, sister of Gloria Strauss, a little girl who struggled with a rare childhood cancer for 4 years. This month marks the one year anniversary of her death.

Maria is a bright and talented 10 year old who used to share a room with Gloria and still misses her dearly. She shared with me that because of Magnificent Marvelous Me, she was able to take her feelings – which had previously been “wadded up in a big ball” – and communicate them to her mom. She showed me what she has done in her book so far and explained that she loves doing the activities because they are all about her and make her feel both magnificent AND marvelous!