REMEMBRANCES OF THE BEAUTIFUL JOHANNA EDDY I must begin by saying that I did not get to know Johanna very well. I was going to do that through various family gatherings until we all got older. She was Rick's wife, a scientist, a darn sweet person, a step mother, a sister-in-law and a daughter-in-law. As a daughter-in-law, word has is that she was unsurpassed. She accommodated the family whenever necessary. My brother, Bob and his wife, Marit loved her so much. She made everything easy for them. So I loved her because she loved them. As a sister-in-law I would have to get my information from Chris and Stacy but I think and noticed that she treated them with love and compassion and humor. So I loved her because she loved them. As a step-mother, the most intricate part of the relationship, she handled with aplomb. There were delicate moments, I am sure, but Scott and Nicole let her into their life and seemed to be happy about it. So I loved her because she loved them. As a darn sweet person, she was hard to beat. With her sense of humor and good will it was hard to be on her bad side. She did not rant, berate, or rave. Occasionally she wondered why we (McManus family) were all so loud. We can give her that. We don't know either. She forgave us our iniquities. So I loved her because she did that and loved us. As a scientist she worked diligently to combat one of the nation's predatory ailments, cancer. Although her hard work was unable to save her, she has opened the door for other scientists to carry on and perhaps finally win. So I loved her because she loved people enough to devote her live to saving them. As Rick's wife she was a complement to him in every way. She encouraged his work, his family situations, his parenting techniques, his golf game. I have never seen Rick happier than when he had Johanna by his side. This is important to me. A "wife" is a hard thing to be sometimes. I have had years' of experience but sometimes didn't reach the "touch" that she had. So I loved her because she loved him. I am sure Johanna was even much more to the many friends she had and her other family whom I never met. She was the consummate friend and partially because of that and all the reasons stated above, I loved her and will miss her. Idalee McCormick 6 September 2009

When I was a senior in high school, I had this old, blue Mazda. One day I was driving with Margaret, Colleen, and Johanna. They were all sitting in the back seat, with Johanna in the middle. Whenever I think of this story, I always wondered what in the world the tallest person in the group was doing sitting in the middle. Anyhow, we were driving down Paularino, getting ready to cross Bristol in Costa Mesa, when the light turned yellow. Being the cautious driver that I was (ha!) I sped right through that light so I wouldn't have to stop. Well, there's a dip where the 2 streets intersect, and I remember looking in the rearview mirror and seeing Johanna fly through air, smacking the ceiling of that car that had no padding. I can still hear the sound of her head hitting the metal. The image of her brown hair floating parallel with ground will always be in my mind. Yet, as painful as that must have been, I also remember her cracking up, as did the rest of her partners in crime. Barbara Vento Valdez

Dear Johanna! God looked around his garden And He found an empty place. And then He looked down upon the earth, And saw your tired face. He put His arms around you, And lifted you to rest. God's garden must be beautiful, He always takes the best. He knew that you were suffering, He knew you were in pain, He knew that you would never Get well on earth again. He saw the road was getting rough, And the hills were hard to climb, So He closed your weary eyelids, And whispered "Peace be thine." It broke our hearts to lose you. But you didn't go alone, For part of us went with you, The day God called you home. R.I.P. From the family in Norway