Graduation tears
July 5, 2013
I’ll admit it. Every time I hear Vitamin C’s “Graduation,” Green Day’s “Good Riddance” or good old-fashioned “Pomp and Circumstance” at a graduation, I am going to cry.
It won’t be a full-on bawl. No, I can hold myself together; but I can’t guarantee that my eyes won’t subtly leak at least a couple of times during the ceremony.
Such was the case last month when I attended Hazen High School’s graduation June 13 and the Newcastle and Hazelwood elementary school fifth-grade promotions June 18. Staff photographer Greg Farrar handled the Liberty High School duties.
Rose Coulter Wisner
December 6, 2012
Rose Coulter Wisner was born Aug. 17, 1963, in Seattle, and died Nov. 9, 2012, at Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland.
Wife and mother of three, she was a dedicated volunteer at St. Madeleine Sophie Catholic School in Bellevue, St. Monica Parish School on Mercer Island, and a stalwart rider and fundraiser for the Northwest JDRF Ride-to-Cure Diabetes team.
She grew up the third of four children in Montesano, graduated Cum Laude from the Washington State University Edward R. Murrow College of Communications in Pullman in 1985, and worked as a writer and producer for KIRO-TV for 11 years.
Rose Coulter Wisner
November 14, 2012
Rose Coulter Wisner was born Aug. 17, 1963, in Seattle, and died Nov. 9, 2012, at Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland.
Wife and mother of three, she was a dedicated volunteer at St. Madeleine Sophie Catholic School in Bellevue, St. Monica Parish School on Mercer Island, and a stalwart rider and fundraiser for the Northwest JDRF Ride-to-Cure Diabetes team.
She grew up the third of four children in Montesano, graduated Cum Laude from the Washington State University Edward R. Murrow College of Communications in Pullman in 1985, and worked as a writer and producer for KIRO-TV for 11 years.
Scrubbing in for a day of brain surgery
October 4, 2012
Newcastle resident Max Kosobutsky was among those invited by the Swedish Neuroscience Institute to become brain surgeons for a day Aug. 24.
The event, hosted by the Ben and Catherine Ivy Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment, was held at Swedish’s Cherry Hill campus in Seattle.
The purpose of the event was to give participants a look into the work being done to cure brain cancer and raise awareness of one of the most malignant cancers in the world, which affects more than 22,000 people in the United States.

By Greg Farrar
Max Kosobutsky (right), of Newcastle, a Bellevue College student, is guided by Medtronic clinical specialist Lisa Echandia as he inserts a stealth navigation pointer into a plastic head model, which combined with a magnetic field emitter, shows the structure of a brain.
The 20-year-old Newcastle resident had the chance to closely examine a human brain, experiment with surgical devices and learn about brain surgery from Dr. Greg Foltz, a neurosurgeon at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute.
Kosobutsky, a student at Bellevue College, said he hopes to enter the medical field in the future, which is why he jumped at the chance to become a brain surgeon for a day.
“I’m an aspiring nursing student and I’m very interested to get as much experience and different viewpoints from other people about the field itself so that I get an idea of what I’m going into,” he said. “So, I can definitely relate it to my career interests. I didn’t think twice about signing up for it.”
The day began with a presentation from Foltz, who showed the group a video of a brain surgery he performed just days before.
Newcastle woman honors father in Seattle Brain Cancer Walk
October 9, 2011

Kelly Dowell (left) celebrates Christmas with her mother and father, the year before he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Contributed
Kelly Dowell’s father was healthy.
He ran marathons at age 60.
He worked and traveled around the world for The Boeing Co. for 30 years.
He had just traveled home to Newcastle after receiving his marine surveying license in Florida.
But in 2008, Dowell got a call she can’t erase from her mind.
Come home immediately, her mother told her.
Newcastle woman honors father in Seattle Brain Cancer Walk
August 31, 2011
NEW — 11:10 a.m., Aug. 31, 2011
Kelly Dowell’s father was healthy.
He ran marathons at age 60.
He worked and traveled around the world for The Boeing Co. for 30 years.
He had just traveled home to Newcastle after receiving his marine surveying license in Florida.
But in 2008, Dowell got a call she can’t erase from her mind.
Teen in third year running summer camp, donates profit to cancer research
September 2, 2010
Many summer camps cost parents hundreds of dollars or exclude children younger than 5 or 6. Such is not the case for Sun Shine Day Camp, the brainchild of 13-year-old Maywood Middle School student Sada Adams, which benefits leukemia and lymphoma research.

Campers trickle in during a song at the Sun Shine Day camp Aug. 13. More than 30 children, potty trained to 8 years old, registered for the weeklong camp. By Tim Pfarr
For the third year, Adams organized and managed the weeklong camp for children, potty-trained to 8 years old. For $15 – $20, children were treated to five days of songs and games from morning until early afternoon.
“It’s something I truly believe in,” said Adams, who recently began eighth grade. “I would like it to grow into something bigger than a little day camp.”
Adams is already on her way to making her dream a reality. In just two years, the number of attendees rocketed from less than a dozen to more than 30 preregistered campers. She said the idea for the camp originally grew out of a pipedream with friend Claire Moore when they were 11.
Locals walk to help find cure for cancer
July 3, 2009
Stephanie Nelson doesn’t know of anyone’s life that has not been touched by cancer. The owner of the Newcastle Curves store lost her sister Laura Bradley to cancer four years ago. Read more
Local woman walks to support, find cure for cancer
May 28, 2009
NEW — 5 p.m. May 28, 2009
Stephanie Nelson doesn’t know of anyone’s life that has not been touched by cancer. The owner of the Newcastle Curves store lost her sister Laura Bradley to cancer four years ago.
Nelson and a few hundred people will participate in the second annual Seattle Brain Cancer Walk on Saturday at Mercer Island High School.
May was National Brain Tumor Awareness month. The money raised from the event benefits the Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle.
“I want to do anything I can to bring awareness to brain cancer and raise money for this cause,” Nelson said.
Curves employees Lynne Prevette, of Newcastle; Jan Scoffed, of Newport Hills; and Pat Marshall, of Bellevue, will join Nelson.

Jan Scofield (from left), Stephanie Nelson, Virginia Jepsen, Harriet Houghton and Lynne Prevette at last year’s Brain Cancer Walk. (Contributed)
Friendship Circle honors mayor’s daughter for volunteerism
April 30, 2009
The Friendship Circle will honor Sarah Varon, 16, a student at Northwest Yeshiva High School on Mercer Island and the daughter of Julie and Mayor Ben Varon, for her volunteerism.