Surprise brightens woman’s holidays
Published 10:45 pm Saturday, November 24, 2007
EVERETT – Reaba Boone, 86, is usually too busy giving to ask for any gifts during the holidays.
But this year, Boone — who has late-stage pancreatic cancer — made a wish.
“I was laying in bed one night, and I thought, wouldn’t it be so great to decorate the whole back yard?” said Boone, who moved to Everett from Oklahoma in 1942. “I just wanted to decorate as much as I can.”
On Saturday, Boone’s family surprised her by making her wish come true.
Sitting in a chair on her deck, she beamed as dozens of friends and family members adorned her back yard with lights, wreaths and other Christmas decorations. One relative loaded up his pickup with ice shavings from a Kirkland skating rink to build a snowman, complete with a scarf and carrot nose.
The family sipped cider and ate cookies and homemade soup while they decorated. As the adults chatted, some of the children used the ice shavings to have a snowball fight.
“I’ve never had anything like this,” said Boone, who usually just decorates by hanging icicle lights from her deck. “This is great.”
The past few weeks have been emotional for Boone’s family. After recently being hospitalized with a 104-degree fever, a CAT scan showed chemotherapy wasn’t slowing the growth of Boone’s cancer. Rather than endure further preventative treatments, Boone has decided to let her illness run its course.
Boone is content with her choice. A member of Bethany Christian Assembly, she knows she will be reunited with her sister who died 19 years ago, and with a daughter who died four years ago.
“I know where I’m going,” Boone said. “I won’t be in any pain.”
The family always comes over to Boone’s place for Christmas. She feeds her guests biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and she’s fond of making handmade gifts
“This lady, for years, has bought a present for everyone whether they’re family or not,” her daughter, Charlene Boone, said.
Many family members also gathered at Boone’s home on Mother’s Day. Boone, once an avid gardener, can no longer tend to her yard as she once did. Her family surprised her by planting columbines, geraniums and other colorful plants where she could see them from the house.
For Saturday, Boone had been told people were coming over to celebrate a birthday in the family. She suspected something was amiss in the days prior, when her daughters, Sherry Jensen and Charlene, cooked up several batches of Christmas cookies.
She realized Saturday’s get-together was more than a birthday party when relatives she hadn’t seen for awhile began to arrive.
“I think the reason so many people show up for her is she’s put so much love into this family, and her faith in God carries over,” Charlene Boone said. “That love spills over to us.”
Everyone brought decorations. Boone’s son, Jim Boone, of Arlington, climbed high on a ladder to hang a Christmas star on a tree behind the work shed. The family also hung a lighted cross in the back yard.
Inside the house — where Boone lives with Charlene, Sherry and her son-in-law, Jon Jensen — family members set up a miniature village on a long cabinet, beneath shelves holding decorative plates and several family photos.
By the time family members were finished decorating, Boone’s home was a winter wonderland.
Being with family on Saturday helped lift everyone’s spirits, said Darin Colyn, 40, who brought the ice shavings from Kirkland.
“I’m glad we had such a big turnout, I’m glad to see everybody made it,” he said.
To Boone, spending a day with four generations of her family has already made this holiday season one of the best in her life.
“We have a big family,” she said. “I love my family.”
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
