If you've watched the news or listened to the radio at all in the last two days, you may be aware that two vibrant lives were taken from our community, as well as the ripping apart of an entire family.
I knew Rebecca. I believe I can say we were friends of a sort, because Rebecca was a friend to everyone. I work across the hall from her business, The Reclothery, whose sign reads, "An exceptional consignment store". What really made it exceptional was Rebecca.
It became so blatantly clear today that she was the life's breath of our building.
The first time I met Rebecca was when we started doing our visits at Partners for Family and Children. She had a colorful past and was not ashamed to share her story with me. She taught me that we are not our past. That hard work, love, faith, and family can enable you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and hold your head high.
She was so kind to Kelly, who loved playing in her store.
Every morning she'd bound across the hall with some story, her hands flying as she made us all laugh. Her nine year old son, who was also murdered, was just like her. Telling stories with so much excitement and animation you couldn't help but smile.
She helped me find jobs. She gave me suits for interviews, clothes once I was hired, a winter coat one year I couldn't afford one. She knew that none of us could pull ourselves up without a little help.
I was not the only one she did these things for.
This is not about me, this is about Rebecca, and her family.
The news is talking about her murderer. Letting us know he was a graduate in engineering. I want to say that I don't give a fuck. Nobody should. He was a murderer and a coward. He took her life, the life of her nine year old son who was a twin, and tried to take the life of her seventeen year old son, then ran home and took his own life. That's all I need to know to understand that I am glad he is dead. His "mental illness" would have gotten him off in fifteen years or so. The damage he did will last forever.
What the media should be talking about, and they did do some interviews today that I hope they use, is what she meant to the women and children of our community. She was an advocate for both. She never judged. She was compassionate. She was the strongest woman I have ever met. She worked so hard to reunite her family, worked hard to own her own business, and she was taken when she had finally worked it all out.
It's senseless, it's sickening. It's so horribly sad.
I guess there are bloggers out there talking about her past. This is what I have to say to you all...don't write about what you don't know. Shut your fucking mouths, still your damn fingers...she was truly wonderful and that's all you need to write about.
The United Health Services Credit Union has set up a fund for her two surviving boys, one of which has special needs. One of her friends let us know today that she will post a link about the fund on The Reclothery's facebook page. If you can, please help her family that has survived this ordeal. She did the same for women and children all over Spokane.
Rebecca, it was truly an honor to know you, and the hole that is left behind from your murder will never be filled. I know that you are up there, with your one little one, watching over the ones that are left, and I hope that you know they will be well taken care of. Not as well as you could have done, because you were a tremendous mother, daughter...friend.
Goodbye.
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