Korey Rose's perpetual smile and outgoing nature won him friends of all ages wherever he went.
Then, in his junior year at Enumclaw High School, Korey was diagnosed with bone cancer. He underwent chemotherapy and surgery. His cancer seemed relentless.
Despite that, in June 2004, shortly after his left leg was amputated, Korey graduated with his classmates.
He died two months later.
"The week before he passed away, we took him to Hawaii," says his father, Tim Rose. "Even though he'd exhausted all conventional treatment, he was never willing to give up."
In Hawaii, he proposed to his girlfriend and, when she said yes, presented her with a ring.
Despite the loss of his leg, he played in the sand and the water, and tackled the water slides with abandon.
"He had a huge smile on his face that whole week," his father says.
His father, a vice president with Costco, got involved with actor Paul Newman's "Hole in the Wall Gang Camps," a program that provides camps for children with serious illnesses.
Rose helped found Camp Korey, a Hole in the Wall Gang camp in Carnation. He says the camp will have a "soft opening" this summer with two groups from Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center.
He hopes to see 1,000 youngsters go through Camp Korey the following summer.
A carnival will benefit Camp Korey, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., May 10 at Auburn's Hazelwood Elementary School. To help, contact taylehman@comcast. net.
Long-lost pen pal found
Enrique (Tony) Garcia, the 69-year-old Bolivian who exchanged letters with a teenager in Seattle for a decade beginning when he was 14, has good news: His long-lost pen pal, Carol Bobin Moore, has been found.
The two met only once briefly and that was in 1964. But Garcia says after the story of his efforts to find his pen pal appeared in this column, he got a call from her -- from Hawaii.
"She's on vacation," says Garcia, who is living temporarily with family members in the Lynnwood area. "She's coming back soon and we're going to see each other."
The upside of downside
Earlier this month, while Jim and Cindy Brinkman of Kent were visiting friends at Lake Quinault, their Scenic Hill home was destroyed by fire, leaving them, their son and his wife, and their daughter and her fianc?? homeless.
They had insurance, but the biggest losses are the things you can't replace, they say: the harmonicas Cindy Brinkman's late father used to play, their wedding album, their children's baby books.
"It was devastating. That was our life," Cindy says.
But since then, they've met neighbors and heard from community members they never met before the fire.
A neighbor who is a real estate agent is trying to find them a house to rent while their home is rebuilt. Others provided clothing. Still others invited them to dinner.
"It's been amazing. You forget how good people can be," Jim Brinkman said.
Angels among us
Seattle's Don Lev wanted to help after reading in this column about 17-year-old DJ Eddins who has spent his life in foster care and never knew either of his parents.
He was among 450 or so others who showed up for this year's Sweetheart Breakfast benefiting Auburn Youth Resources.
Eddins, who lives in Severson House, an AYR-run group home, spoke at the breakfast.
"It was powerful," said Jim Blanchard, AYR director. "People were in tears."
Blanchard said Lev, who donated $500 to a savings account that will be held for Eddins until he leaves the group home, also donated $500 to AYR on the day of the breakfast. After the event, he approached Eddins.
"He told him, 'If you ever need a place to stay near the University of Washington, you can stay with us,' " Blanchard says.
To see more of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, for online features, or to subscribe, go to http://seattlep-I.com.
??? 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All Rights Reserved.