Cindy Hval

The tale of how a singer from Canada fell in love with a trombonist from Montana reads like a storyline from a movie musical. Treena Luety grew up in Toronto and has always loved to sing. “I sang into my hairbrush for my mom and dad,” she said, laughing. “I’d sing myself to sleep every night.”

Nine seconds. In America, every nine seconds a child is reported beaten, raped, verbally assaulted or severely neglected, according to a local foster care placement agency, Olive Crest. Who knows how many such incidents go unreported? That four children also die each day due to abuse, according to Olive Crest, offers proof that society needs to work harder to protect the most vulnerable among us. Since 1973, Olive Crest, a privately run foster care agency, has been doing just that. Its mission states: “Olive Crest is dedicated to preventing child abuse, to treating and educating at-risk children and to preserving the family one life at a time.” Founded in California, the organization provides shelter and care for boys and girls from birth to 22.

When 16-year-old Tasha Kelly-Schafnitz heard her friend’s mom had breast cancer, she felt bad. When she heard that a car wash benefit to help with medical expenses raised less than $10, she felt worse. Then she decided to do something. Kelly-Schafnitz, a student in the Veterinary Assisting program at the Spokane Vocational Skills Center, enjoys both animals and woodworking. She’s combined her two passions by crafting 3-D puzzles in animal shapes out of alder, maple, pine and oak. Now, she’s selling her intricate puzzles and donating the proceeds to help her friend’s mom.

Last week Deer Park resident Ray Daves stood in front of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. He closed his eyes as sobering memories filled his mind. Each gold star on the memorial’s Freedom Wall represents 100 American lives lost during World War II. There are 4,000 gold stars. For Daves, an 89-year-old survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, those stars are personal. “I thought about men who were my age but didn’t get to enjoy life,” he said. Men like his friend, George Maybee, who was killed on the battleship USS Arizona, which sank during the Pearl Harbor attack.

When Dolores Gonzales moved to Spokane from Los Angeles, she didn’t miss the traffic or the hectic lifestyle of Southern California, but she did miss the music. “In bigger cities, smooth jazz is the music of choice for mature adults,” she says.

Twelve years ago, Kari Kelli lay curled up on the floor of a room at Anna Ogden Hall. She hadn’t eaten solid food in months and weighed 100 pounds. She’d lost her children, her car and her job. She’d walked away from it all for what she called the love of her life – methamphetamine. “I gave up everything for that drug,” Kelli said. “It chewed me up, spit me out and left me for dead.” As she lay on the floor, sick and broken, “I remember daring God to do something with my life,” she said.

Imagine you’re looking at a map of Spokane. You note that Division Street is a four-lane, north-south street. You decide to drive north on Division Street from Gonzaga University. To your surprise, you discover it’s not Division – it’s Ruby Street, and it’s one way. Turns out your map is several years out of date. William Conable, emeritus professor of music at Ohio State University, said human beings have maps of their bodies tucked within their brains. “We use this map to give our bodies instruction for movement,” he explained. And sometimes those maps are faulty. “Almost everyone has something incorrect in their map, but they’ve got to use it – it’s all they have.”

Book angels have been busy visiting students in grades K-2 in the Riverside, Deer Park, Mary Walker and Valley school districts. Recently, 957 students each received a new book, thanks to the Deer Park Rotary club. Meg Parker, club secretary, said, “This project was dreamed up during a breakfast meeting of the women in the club, all of whom are mothers or grandmothers.” That gathering evolved into the Literacy Committee and the project was embraced by the entire club.

Skip Partridge didn’t say much. He couldn’t. A series of strokes had left him with aphasia, and finding the right words became an agonizing process, fraught with frustration. However, he didn’t let his disability silence him. Instead, with the help of his two Golden Retrievers, he found a new way to communicate. His canine friends, Dagwood and Darby, were certified service animals, and every month Partridge and his dogs made their rounds. They visited children at Shriners Hospital, patients at Cancer Care Northwest and hospice patients and their families.

When 16-year-old Tasha Kelly-Schafnitz heard her friend’s mom had breast cancer, she felt bad. When she heard that a car wash benefit to help with medical expenses raised less than $10, she felt worse. Then she decided to do something. Kelly-Schafnitz, a student in the Veterinary Assisting program at the Spokane Vocational Skills Center, enjoys both animals and woodworking. She’s combined her two passions by crafting 3-D puzzles in animal shapes out of alder, maple, pine and oak. Now, she’s selling her intricate puzzles and donating the proceeds to help her friend’s mom.

October is breast cancer awareness month. But cancer survivors like Melody Biehl are always aware of the insidious disease that claims more than 40,000 women in the United States each year. “I got my very first mammogram at 41,” she recalled. Abnormalities spotted in that procedure led to a needle biopsy. The result: breast cancer. Biehl underwent a surgical biopsy and then a mastectomy. Though she’s been cancer-free for 12 years, she’ll never forget the arduous, emotional journey she traveled – nor the caring people she met along the way.

It may be only October, but many high school seniors, and even juniors, are hard at work on assignments that must be completed before they don their caps and gowns. Since 2008, Washington state graduation requirements have mandated that each senior complete a culminating project. This project must meet three distinct goals. One: Encourage students to think analytically, logically and creatively and to integrate experience and knowledge to solve problems. Two: Give students a chance to explore a topic in which they have a great interest. And three: Offer students an opportunity to apply their learning in a “real world” way.

When 16-year-old Tasha Kelly-Schafnitz heard her friend’s mom had breast cancer, she felt bad. When she heard that a car wash benefit to help with medical expenses raised less than $10, she felt worse. Then she decided to do something. Schafnitz, a student in the Veterinary Assisting program at the Spokane Vocational Skills Center, enjoys both animals and woodworking. She’s combined her two passions by crafting 3-D puzzles in animal shapes out of alder, maple, pine and oak. Now, she’s selling her intricate puzzles and donating the proceeds to help her friend’s mom.

Diane Stutzman’s passion for plants started at a very early age, and didn’t even begin that happily. When her father gave her some seeds to plant, she eagerly watched for the blooms as she tended her little patch, anticipating a riot of colorful blossoms. When at last the plants started growing, Stutzman was sorely disappointed.

On a windy fall afternoon, dozens of children ran, shouting and laughing, across the lawn at Westview Elementary School, enjoying an exuberant game of tag. The kids had been separated into groups labeled Jeeps, Cadillacs and Corvettes by physical education teacher and cross country coach Sam Compogno.

It’s an art form born out of necessity. For hundreds of years, women created colorful quilts to keep their families warm. Nowadays, quilts are just as likely to be hung on walls as they are to be thrown across beds. Next weekend, quilters from around the region will gather at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center to celebrate the artistry of quilts at the 31st annual Spokane Quilt Show.

From the meandering Centennial Trail to the breathtaking Route of the Hiawatha, the Inland Northwest features many scenic bike routes for all abilities. But avid cyclist Cory English has recently discovered what she considers the most beautiful place of all to ride -- on Twin Lakes, Idaho.

Local author and speaker Deanna Davis was having one of those days. Her baby had spiked a fever and had all the symptoms of a nasty ear infection. Then her toddler daughter came into the room crying and holding her nose. “What’s happened?” Davis asked. “I got a flip-flop up my nose,” wailed her daughter. “A Polly Pocket flip-flop.” When Davis tells that story to standing-room-only crowds during her “Womanhood: the Divine Comedy” events, the audience roars with laughter. Because those kinds of days are practically universal to women across the globe. While you may not have had to cope with a child with a tiny plastic shoe wedged in her nostril, chances are you’ve endured minor mishaps and major catastrophes.

Dogs may be man’s best friend, but according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, cats outnumber dogs by nearly 10 million among the pet-owning public. With an estimated 90 million cats in the nation, it’s no wonder South Hill author Niki Anderson’s inspirational books featuring true-life cat tales are so popular.

Summer jobs are hard to come by for young teens. Paper routes are scarce and often taken by adults with cars. Fast-food restaurants don’t hire anyone under 16, and day care centers have reduced the amount of baby-sitting jobs available. Yet 14-year-old Dave Howell not only earned income this summer, he also gained job skills that will serve him well throughout his life. Howell joined Green Collar Jobs Service Corps, the youth employment and work force development component of Jobs Not Jails.

Fourteen-year-old KellyAnn Cameron and her sister, Erin, 13, went on a bike ride with their parents over summer vacation. That might not sound as exciting as a trip to Disneyland, until you know the rest of the story. The bike ride covered eight states and one Canadian province. It spanned 3,050 miles and took 67 days. The family began their trip at Salk Middle School in north Spokane on June 12 and ended in Ocean City, Md., on Aug. 17. But according to the girls’ parents, Bob Cameron and Barb Stuebing, the idea of the adventure began long before.