We wanted to share with our wildland community a wonderful email we received from Lori Greeno.

"Well, graduation has come and gone down here in CA and I am so proud to say that Marcus will be heading off to our local junior college to do his core classes and Montana is going to be attending Summerville High School. I have to tell you Montana has thrived in the past 3 years since John died. She was the one I was worried about the most having been a real "Daddy's Girl." I wasn't sure how she would handle not having him around, but my worries were for naught. When we attended the 8th grade awards ceremony, she was the recipient of 4 different awards. Her first award was for presenting talks to 4th grade classes on anger management and bullying. She also got a medal for "No Points Lost" which means she never had missing homework, acted out in a bad way, etc. Her third award was the Presidents Academic Achievement Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement - she carried a GPA of 3.0 or better the last 3 years of school. Her last award is the one that had the most meaning for both of us. The award was for a student who has faced and overcome adversity keeping a positive attitude, who is kind, considerate and always willing to help. After we were told about what the award was about, Mrs. Durling, the presenter, said "this young lady lost someone very dear to her in fifth grade." We all knew who the award was for, and I burst into tears as did some of those around me. Montana proudly made her way up to receive her award. She also received a $100 scholarship with it. I know that John would be so proud of how far she has come in the past three years. She is blossoming into exactly the kind of girl that any parent would love to have. Our children can overcome these devastating losses. I think we surviving parents don't give them credit for being able to stand on their own two feet and say that they won't be a victim-they will be a survivor. I just wanted to share this with you. I know that you are always behind our kids, helping them to heal spiritually and emotionally. Thank you for helping mold my baby into the fantastic girl she has become!