Editor,
The local memorial service for our daughter, Sarah Larson McGettrick, will be Saturday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m., at the Eureka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 17 Elk St. in Eureka Springs.
During the three years of her illness, until her death on Oct. 27, we have been sustained and uplifted by the loving support of this community. We are grateful for the prayers, cards, care packages, flowers, emails and texts. We are grateful for every loving thought, spoken or unspoken.
Throughout Sarah’s illness she continued to live her life. She inspired us all by laughing every day, teaching, and traveling, making plans for the future. She was able to guide her daughter, Sydney, to be the wonderful 16-year-old young woman that she is.
Sarah was a personal trainer, and the most common phrase heard from her clients was, “she changed my life.” Even in illness she thought of others and offered help to neighbors and friends. Sarah was a source of encouragement to other cancer patients she had come to know. She was guided by empathy and compassion.
As her minister in Georgia said, if you measure a life in years, hers was less than we would hope, but if you measure a life by the positive impact you have in the world, Sarah’s life was richer and fuller, by far, than many.
Please learn the symptoms of ovarian cancer. There is no diagnostic test. Women must pay attention and advocate for themselves for early diagnosis.
We go on now, striving to emulate some of the qualities that Sarah exemplified: Have fun, keep moving, and be kind.
Lynn and Albert Larson