Dr gordon klatt biography of william

Oxford’s Relay For Life race to fight cancer takes place from noon-11p.m. this Saturday, June 22, in uptown park.

The event provides the community with a time to remember and honor loved ones lost to cancer, as well as a chance to support those in the community who are fighting the disease.

The Relay For Life is a signature fundraiser of the American Cancer Society (ACS), dedicated to helping communities attack cancer. Similar events are held in communities throughout the country and around the world.

It began in 1985 when Dr. Gordon Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Washington. The following year, 19 teams doing the same thing raised more than $33,000 to fight cancer.

Today more than 4 million people in 26 countries participate. According to the ACS, in 2016 alone more than $80 million dollars was raised.

The Relay For Life is a tradition that the Oxford community has partaken in for the better part of two decades. This weekend will mark the 19th year that the Relay has taken place in the Greater Oxford Area.

“The Oxford community is the greatest community in the country and is absolutely supportive of one another,” said Karen Martino, who has been an Oxford Relay For Life participant for the past five years and is the lead organizer for this year’s event. “The turnout of the community to the Relay every year is reflective of that.”

The first local relay was held at the old Talawanda high school track roughly 19 years ago. The location has changed over the years, but in 2016 the Relay came to Oxford’s uptown park, generating even more community participation and awareness.

This year, 10 teams made up of local sponsors, church groups, and families will be raising money for those battling cancer. Each team will have a booth set up in the park with different raffles, games, and other activities, and all donations will benefit the ACS in its fight against cancer.

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The University of St. Thomas community will gather Wednesday, May 9, to celebrate its annual St. Thomas Day and honor recipients of its Humanitarian, Distinguished Alumnus, Professor of the Year, Tommie and Monsignor James Lavin awards.

St. Thomas Day events begin with a 5:30 p.m. Mass in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Harry Flynn, chair of the university’s Board of Trustees. A dinner and awards program will follow in James B. Woulfe Alumni Hall, Anderson Student Center. More than 500 members of the St. Thomas community are expected to attend.

Nominations for the Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna, Humanitarian and Lavin awards are welcome throughout the year but are required by July 1 for consideration for the following year’s St. Thomas Day. For forms and more information on how to submit a nomination, visit the Alumni Association website.

The five St. Thomas Day award recipients are:

Distinguished Alumna Award

Bernadeia Johnson ’93 M.A. will receive this year’s Distinguished Alumna award.

Established in 1971, the Distinguished Alumnus award recognizes leadership and service to the university, to the community and in the person’s field of endeavor.

Johnson, a native of Selma, Ala., said growing up in the segregated south meant “you understood the sacrifices that your community made to make sure that you had an educational experience, because that was the way to be able to come back and support your family and community.”

As superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, a role she has held since July 2010, Johnson oversees a $685 million budget, 34,000 students and 5,600 employees. But it is her drive to see through those large numbers and into the lives of each student that reflects the way Johnson approaches her work , and why she was selected for this award. Her vision − steeped in her childhood experiences – for children’s education is boldly, and aptly, displayed on the nameplate on her desk: Every

  BERKELEY – It will touch everyone’s life eventually.

  You might not be a cancer patient, but someone you love is likely to get cancer. According to the World Health Organization, cancer accounted for one in six deaths globally in 2020.

  Robyn Griffith, who coordinated the Berkeley-Lacey Relay for Life, said that fundraisers like this helps the American Cancer Society give patients rides to appointments, lodging, and a hotline. It’s the best way to help those struggling with the disease and fight it with researching cures.

  “Together we can make the biggest impact to save lives,” she told the group at the opening ceremony at Veterans Park.

  The event starts during the day, lasts overnight, and ends the next morning. This symbolizes the darkness that comes with a cancer diagnosis, and the light of hoping for a better tomorrow, Griffith said.

  Throughout the evening, there were scheduled laps for various groups. The first lap, for example, was made up of survivors.

  The event got its start in 1985, when Dr. Gordon Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Washington, raising money to help the American Cancer Society. The walk was about 83.6 miles and he raised $27,000. The next year, the Relay for Life was born. It has continually been an overnight event since then. No one walks for 24 hours straight, though. They take turns, and that’s why it’s a relay.

  The benefits aren’t just financial, they’re social and emotional as well. Fran Curtis detailed her battle with several cancers. It led her to the Reach To Recovery program, where survivors are partnered with someone who is currently fighting. It helps to have someone who has been through it and knows what it’s like. There’s also Man To Man, for prostate cancer.

  Diana Dozois met Curtis through Reach To Recovery. She was three weeks past her own diagnosis when she lost her mother

ANGELS CAMP -- Marlene Latham, Pauline

Lucier and Carol Swartzlander are survivors.

Which explains why they'll have

no trouble weathering this weekend's Relay For Life, a 24-hour celebration,

community campout, fitness test and fund-raiser all rolled into one. Even if

the weather isn't exactly relay-friendly.

The event, which starts at 10 a.m.

Saturday at Bret Harte High School and continues until 10 a.m. Sunday, is the

American Cancer Society's signature fund-raiser.

Latham, who beat breast cancer nearly

20 years ago, has been a cancer society volunteer for 18 years and in the past

has taken Calaveras teams to the relay held in Tuolumne County.

But when the society decided to

stage a relay in Calaveras this year for the first time, Latham was named to

chair the event. "That's why I have gray hair where I used to have brown," she

joked.

So far, 26 teams have signed up

to participate in the event, with teams ranging from 12 to 26 members. Each

team member must contribute a minimum of $100, and at least one team member

must be on the track at all times during the 24-hour relay.

Six teams of high school students

and two teams of elementary school pupils are among the participants. They and

the others could be walking in the rain, according to a National Weather Service

forecast.

The Relay For Life traces its roots

to Dr. Gordon Klatt, a Tacoma, Wash., surgeon who ran and walked around a track

at the University of Puget Sound in 1985 to raise money to fight cancer. Klatt

raised $27,000 that year. Last year, relays raised $243 million worldwide.

Sonora and Galt also will hold relays

this weekend. Manteca and Tracy have relays scheduled for May 17-18, while Lodi

will hold its first relay June 7-8. Stockton's relay is set for June 21-22.

Kirsten Schneider, an American Cancer

Society spokeswoman, said relay money funds local programs and services, research,

and education.

In addition to raising funds, the

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