This past Saturday night the St. Patrick Knights of Columbus Council 10567 held the 9th Annual Jerome C Bradley Memorial Dinner Dance at the Bessemer Civic Center. Jerome was very active in the Knights and passed away 9 years ago. This event is the primary fund raiser for the Knights of Council. Each year the Knights choose a charity to share a portion of the events proceeds. This year the Laura Crandall Brown Ovarian Cancer Foundation was chosen as the featured charity. Part...

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I continue to be amazed by the many different ways that the Spirit of Laura touches me!I read as many fictional novels as I can during the summer.  I like to think it brings a little "balance" back in my head after a school year closes.  We all need balance, right?? I recently selected one written by Anne Rivers Siddons only to discover that the main character, Kate Lee, is a two time ovarian cancer survivor who believes that her "cancerous pac man" has returned one...

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Why do I wear teal? Up until tonight, I thought I knew. I am one of the lucky ones that can say Laura was a friend and even luckier to say I was able to have a working, professional relationship with her. So when the time came to join the Young Advisory Board and help raise awareness for ovarian cancer, how could I pass that up? I had all the reasons to be involved but it wasn't until tonight that it finally hit me. Why do I wear teal? It became much more personal without me ever expecting it....

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Most of us are familiar with the expression Steel Magnolia.  That phrase describes Southern women who appear delicate and lady-like and demonstrate determination, inner strength, and perhaps a little stubbornness.  There is another flower that might also describe these ladies, but the comparison is less obvious: the blue hydrangea.   The blue hydrangea is that lacy deep blue flower that wilts in the hot sun, needs plenty of water and shade, and whose flowers often fade by July. ...

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Recently while attending a meeting for the Foundation, I was talking with a young person who is very involved in the organization. We were talking about our blog and the many stories that had been shared here. During that conversation, he mentioned that perhaps we should look back at the Caring Bridge site that so effectively kept us all up to date as Laura and her family fought the cancer that eventually took her from us. So, recently, I did just that. I visited the pages of that website,...

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  My mom is an amateur photographer, so while growing up my friends and I got used to having a camera on us at all times. I remember thinking ‘how embarrassing' when I was a child, but as I grew older I was grateful for all the pictures. My mom caught some of the best moments of our lives. Her love of photographer must have rubbed off on me. In college, I was the girl who always had her camera. Then I would use my best and favorite pictures to put in my scrapbooks. One night in college...

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