05/08/03

Real-life stories sometimes have unexpected twists; here are new developments in three stories I've written about recently:

The big wave: Bill and Becky Johnson were the couple in their mid-50s who were caught off-guard by a huge wave at Barview County Park in Netarts Nov. 9. Becky, walking slowly because of side-effects from cancer treatment, was with Bill when a wave overwhelmed them and others in a parking lot. Vehicles were swept up with the people. Bill and Becky ended up under a pickup.

Bill had a broken leg, but Becky was not breathing, her lungs and mouth filled with saltwater and sand. Bystanders began CPR.

Becky was in a coma for weeks. Finally, in mid-December, Becky woke up.

When I wrote their story in February, Bill and Becky emphasized they were not the thrill-seekers portrayed by media; they had seen no warnings or blockades that day, they said.

Although Becky was still hospitalized, she was improving. In fact, she came home Feb. 15. But Becky did not get well. Tests revealed her cancer -- which had been in remission -- had returned.

Last Thursday afternoon Becky died peacefully at home. She fought hard the last six months of her life; she survived her fight with the Pacific Ocean, but lost her fight with cancer.

Roses from Portland: Portlander Sue Casey continues her effort to create rose gardens in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, the sites of the Sept. 11 disasters. Sue conceived of the gardens as gifts from the people of Portland, City of Roses.

Sue has spent the past 18 months making big plans and working to make them happen. This week she's back on the East Coast, meeting with the head of the New York City Parks and Recreation Department, with parents of Sept. 11 victims, with fire departments and memorial site committees and landscape architects and rose societies.

In New York a site has not yet been selected for the rose garden. Sue is lobbying hard for the roses to be planted at the site of the World Trade Center buildings. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which is in charge of the site, has told Sue it's "still very, very interested," she says. "And family members I've spoken to think it's a wonderful idea." Whether it's there or elsewhere in New York, the city has formally accepted the garden, and it will be built.

Washington, D.C., also has formally accepted its "Remember Me" rose garden. But in that city, Sue says, "I'm learning about politics and the maze you have to go through, and the layers of agencies and people. It's frustrating at times, but it's so worthwhile."

On Saturday Sue will meet with a memorial task force in Pennsylvania about the garden that will be built in that state.

One of the best developments is the creation of a new rose, officially named "Firefighter" by New York fire Lt. Bob Jackson, from the famed Engine 54 Ladder 4 company. The rose will be sold nationwide (it will first be available by mail order this fall from Edmunds' Roses of Wilsonville). A percentage of all proceeds will go into a fund to maintain the three rose gardens.

"Firefighter is a beautiful red hybrid tea rose, with fragrance," says Sue. "In each garden there will be 343 'Firefighter' roses to honor the 343 firefighters who were lost on Sept. 11." At least three more roses will be named for the gardens. Families of victims will name the remaining roses. Proceeds will all go to garden maintenance.

What sounded like a crazy dream of Sue Casey's is becoming more of a reality every month. "This is what I think I was meant to do," Sue said on Tuesday from New York. "This is my purpose in life."

For more information, go to www.remember-me-rose.org.

From inside China: Five weeks ago I shared the perspective of Roy Browning, a Hillsboro man who is co-owner of a high-tech company in Dandong, China. Roy's apartment overlooks a river, on the far side of which is North Korea. Because Roy knows people who travel into that country, he had fascinating things to report about its economy, its dictator and the suffering of its people.

Roy is back in Hillsboro with another report from within China: about the illness SARS.

Dandong is in Northeast China, a metropolitan area of about 3 million. Roy believes he is the only American living in the city. "There was only one case of SARS in Dandong when I left" last Wednesday, Roy says. "No one is wearing masks. But it has pretty well shut down the country. There are roadblocks everywhere; anyone coming into the city has to be checked."

At the Beijing airport, which Roy says is smaller than Portland's, "everyone was wearing masks. They funnel you through single file and have a scanner that checks your body temperature." Roy saw a few people pulled aside, and he made sure to stay well away from them. Although he's happy to be home and in good health, Roy plans to return to China on May 22. Margie Boule: 503-221-8450; marboule@aol.com