Light still burns in cancer victims' families

By Douglas Farmer

Turley Publications Staff Writer

WALES - Paula and David Everitt of Worcester called Oak Haven Campground in Wales their second home, where everybody gets to know everyone else staying there over the summer. And it was clear that their was a strong family spirit last weekend, when dozens of campers helped the couple honor family members and friends lost to cancer with a luminary ceremony – some 70 candles in bags of sand lit around the clubhouse.
Though she needed to choke back the tears on occasion, she read solemnly from the typed prayer before her.
“If you have lost a mother or father, light your candle,” read Paula, 48, a breast cancer survivor who will participate in next weekend’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Auburn. “If you’ve lost a sister or brother, a wife, husband or partner, or a friend or neighbor, light your candle.”
After a brief moment of silence to remember the loved ones of the assemblage on Saturday, Sept. 4, Paula exclaimed through a microphone “a special thank you to our Oak Haven family, especially [co-owners] Allan and Penny Jalbert. Keep up the fight.”
For her part, Penny recalled the arrival of Paula at the camp four years ago – without any hair, due to chemotherapy treatments to reduce the tumor in her breast – and many of the seasonal residents took to her right away. Both Paula and Penny noted that it’s very rare to find someone who hasn’t been touched by cancer in this world, and Penny said she lost her mother to cancer many years ago and her best friend died from it only three years ago.
“Paula and David wanted to sell these luminary bags to campers as a fundraiser before the Relay,” said Penny. “And we said that they could, but we wanted there to be an event here, too.”
She added that the people who stay at Oak Haven from all walks of life were looking forward to Saturday’s lighting for which they paid $10 per bag.
Allan and Penny themselves are already well-known in local fundraising circles, having raised some $400,000 through dinners, surf and turf bingo and other events at the campground for the Shriners over the last 20 years.
Echoing the feelings of other participants in Relay for Life events throughout the region, Paula said it is always a moving experience, with survivors taking the first lap and team members keep the relay going throughout the night. David said that he didn’t believe the rain last year did much to dampen the enthusiasm of “Paula’s Peeps,” a team composed of friends and family. Last year, they raised about $2,000 for the cause of finding a cure for cancer.
But there was something special about the Wales gathering, said Paula.
“This is more sentimental, because we know everybody,” she said, as the candles continued to burn as the sun set.
Campers lingered over their flames, even after the ceremony was over, like Rhonda Vilandre of Southbridge, who has lost several relatives to cancer over the years, including grandmothers, uncles and an aunt.
“We’re seasonal residents here,” she said, as her two sons (taller than she was, she noted) huddled close by her. “We know Paula and Dave, and we all wanted to participate. This is a close family we have here.”