In 2004, restaurants in Peachtree City became smoke free, thanks to the passage of legislation passed through the drive and determination of Kathleen Sprowl Cheney. A year later, Georgia General Assembly adopted similar legislation for the entire state.
Seventeen years earlier, my stepmom was diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s a common cancer for smokers. Kathie, however, wasn’t a smoker.
She became a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines in 1968. This was before smoking was banned on domestic flights. She was put on medical retirement, and exposure to second-hand smoke was determined to be the cause of her cancer; and although treatment was successful in stopping the cancer, it led to life-long health complications. The radiation used to treat her throat cancer was likely the cause of the leukemia that eventually took her life on August 10, 2014.
Kathie was the embodiment of life, and talking with her became the brightest part of my day. She had a positive effect on nearly everyone she came into contact with — unless you were one of the people that stood in the way of a piece of legislation she was trying to pass. Even then, she had the ability to befriend those that were formerly her adversaries.
Family teaches you about the world, parsing out wisdom that help you throughout your life. You usually don’t realize it at the time – and sometimes, you never make the connection between what’s been passed on to you and how it has shaped your life. The seeds of who you are, what you believe, and how you view the people around you were planted in your childhood.
Life’s lessons aren’t edicts that parents spoon feed their children. They’re the collection of things you see day-to-day. How you treat your friends and neighbors, and how you interact with the world. Parents lead by example.
Kathie was a soccer baseball/basketball/lacrosse* mom. She was a community leader. She was the face of determination in the face of adversity. She showed that problems were just situations for which a solution had yet to be found.
Kathie was the embodiment of life, and she taught me that if you have a goal, you just had to keep fighting. Losing is always a possibility, but not trying is a worse crime.
Life isn’t fair. Someone who never smoked should not have had to suffer and die as she did. But she left her mark on the world, and I am better off for having known her.
A viewing will be held at the Carmichael Funeral Home in Peachtree City on Friday, August 15th from 6-8pm. A funeral mass will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Saturday, August 16th, at 1PM. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Kathie’s name to the American Cancer Society.
* My brother, Patrick, objected to “soccer mom” — even though he played soccer.
