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Sharon Fay, 1958—2012
Sharon’s Leaf is located at Downtown Emergency Service Center. If you have photos or memories of Sharon, please post a comment.
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Rosana Koontz, 1952—2003
Rosana’s Leaf is located at Downtown Emergency Service Center. If you have photos or memories of Rosana, please post a comment,
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Christine “Chris” Rafferty, 1932—2001
Christine’s Leaf is located at Downtown Emergency Service Center. If you have photos or memories of Christine, please post a comment.
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Earle Thompson, 1950—2006
Earle was a Native American who grew up on the Yakima Indian Reservation. He wrote with unaffected honesty of life on alcohol and the streets as easily as he wrote of the natural world and glimpses of Coyote. His work has been included in numerous anthologies and magazines, including 20th Century Native America Poets, Dancing on the Rim of the World, Akewon, AtlAtl, Argus, Blue Cloud Quarterly, Contact II, Greenfield Review, Prison Writing Quarterly and the Real Change anthology No Apologies. His first poetry chapbook was published by Blue Cloud Quarterly in the early 1970s; his last chapbook was published by Real Change in 2003. In a foreword to the Real…
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Paul Von Kempf, 1944—2006
From Paul’s Real Change Vendor Profile December 13, 2001: Earlier this year, standing outside the View Ridge PCC selling Real Change, and feeling a little bit sorry for himself, Paul Von Kempf, Jr., began to write a poem. “I was in a lot of pain, and wanted to learn how to express it,” he recalls. “I have a lot of ideas that lie behind the self-pity; if I get rid of it, I can get to those ideas.” Paul sees the poem, “Standing with Dignity,” as a capstone to a life he could put down in the same style. He followed that poem with a second one, recalling a moment…
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Catherine O’Neale, 1949—2012
From Real Change, July 18, 2012 A powerful voice and a caring, thoughtful friend Matt Tyksinksi It is with great sadness in my heart that I write about the death of Catherine O’Neale, who was a Real Change vendor. Catherine sold Real Change for six years, most recently at the Bartell Drugs at Fifth Street and Olive Way. I was lucky enough to have the privilege of forming and cultivating a relationship with Catherine. I will always be profoundly affected by our friendship. Whenever I think about my time here at Real Change, Catherine is first person who comes to my mind.
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Michael Garcia, 1960—2009
From Tim Harris, Real Change Director’s Corner, April 22, 2009 Last weekend, a beloved Real Change staff member, Michael Garcia, died in his sleep following an undiagnosed concussion. As our entire community struggles to comprehend the loss, I’ve been reminded of the enormous value of every life, no matter how difficult. Michael became staff last year after more than five years of selling Real Change. I had the opportunity to get to know him better several years ago at a cross-class Center for Ethical Leadership retreat held on Bainbridge Island. During the drive, I learned about his life.
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Fred Spruitenberg, 1949—2010
In 2008, Jonathan Raban wrote about Real Change vendor Fred Spruitenberg in a New York Times column, Down and Out in America’s Last Boomtown. “Fred Spruitenberg came here in 2001, drawn, like so many new Seattleites, by the prospect of employment. In Salinas, Calif., he read in a newspaper about the magnitude-6.8 earthquake that February and imagined a city knee-deep in fallen masonry and broken glass: “I know how to work a broom and shovel.” He bummed the Greyhound fare from a Catholic charity and took the 25-hour ride north to his new life. “Best move I ever made,” he said.”Fred sold Real Change for ten years. On hearing of…
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Walter Backstrom, 1951—2012
For more on Walter, see the Seattle Times and Federal Way Mirror articles. Walter’s Leaf is located at the Downtown Emergency Service Center. If you have photos or memories of Walter, please post a comment.
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Karen Lee Pedersen, 1966—2011
Karen was a Real Change vendor, and her Leaf was originally placed at Real Change. It was moved in September 2014 to Ballard Commons, when a Leaf was placed there for her husband, Jeffrey Bouck. If you have photos or memories of Karen, please post a comment. Featured Leaf September 2022
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Rhonda Endersby, 1966—2011
Rhonda’s Leaf is located at Real Change. If you have photos or memories of Rhonda, please post a comment.
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Timothy “TJ” Shorter, 1957—2011
From Real Change, January 11, 2012: Remembering unforgettable Real Change vendor TJ Shorter Word came the other day that TJ Shorter, 54, a longtime Real Change vendor, passed away on Aug. 9, 2011. Though this obituary comes a few months late, we wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on how we knew him here at the office. Because, well, he is hard to forget. TJ was a character. In a May 2009 Vendor of the Week feature I did with him, he described himself as “the hippest, the coolest, and the most laid back vendor you’re ever gonna meet.” In the same article I called him “distinctive and charismatic.”…
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Daniel Sloan, 1948—2012
Daniel’s Leaf is located at Compass Center. If you have photos or memories of Daniel, please post a comment.
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Kevin Stewart, 1982—2012
Kevin’s Leaf is located at Compass Center. If you have photos or memories of Kevin, please post a comment.
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Kenneth Perfect, ?—2012
Kenneth’s Leaf is located at Compass Center. If you have photos or memories of Kenneth, please post a comment.
