Juliann - My Rainbow, Over 25 years ago I met a beautiful young woman. I was 29 she was 25 years old. We had little in common. So little I fact that the preacher that was to marry us requested we come back to talk to him three times – for at total of three hours – and he finally asked us “what do you two have in common?” We answered: “nothing”. This was our unique basis for our friendship and our love. We were fascinated by each other. It seemed that whenever, wherever, one of us felt lacking or wanting the other of us could fill the void. Together, we each completed the other. We supported one another. We balanced one another. We were whole. Early in our marriage a third party joined us. It wasn’t welcome but it wouldn’t leave us alone. Juliann had Multiple Sclerosis. We had MS. Irresistibly the disease tore away Juliann’s neurology. She fought back hard. She never gave up. We never gave up. For 25 years Juliann found ways to do more than just cope with the disease. She never allowed herself to become the disease. She remained true to herself, she followed her dreams and nurtured her intellect. Juliann always found ways to help others and always found happiness in the process. For me this meant that she was always there for me. She was a wife, fan, supporter, critic and sometimes a nag when I needed it. I always knew where she stood. Strong and compassionate; Often right, but always kind. Juliann was a dancer. She was a teacher. She never could teach me to dance, but she sure did educate me. Her strength, courage and compassion were an inspiration. One of her greatest strengths was to lead by example. Juliann conceptualized and subsequently founded “Access to Theater Arts” a theatrical training program given in Orlando Florida’s Civic Center, Edith Bush Memorial Theater. The program was for adults with physical disabilities to participate in acting classes. First she made the bathrooms accessible and then she taught the classes herself, Eventually, we traveled to Washington D.C. and obtained funding from the National Council of the Arts. Ultimately, her health worsened and she turned the program over to the staff at the Civic Center so that it could continue. As her disease progressed, she needed more help. Help with walking, then help with getting up, then help with getting into bed, then help with eating. I couldn’t identify with the term caregiver but rather with the term “Husband”. We found many ways to stay engaged with life and not let our problems engulf us. Making lemonade from lemons, we started a Company, Bed Handles, Inc. Based upon solving some of her needs – standing, sitting, rising and rolling over in bed we made, well . . bed handles. Juliann was the office manager, publicist, salesman and customer service specialist. I was the general laborer. I’m convinced that we are successful in our business today because of her boundless energy and sincere desire to help others just as she needed the help. Eventually, she trained her replacement, when it was time to let go. In spite of the disease our lives continued to be blessed. We found wonderful caregivers when we needed them; Barbara Brown, Bobbie Sumpter and Jan Munsterman. Truly amazing people. Juliann’s needs continued to escalate and all the while she never complained. She never complained. She was completely homebound but thanks to her incredible will and love of life, she latched onto the Internet, DVD’s, her library of books and she simply carried on best she could. Five years ago we began another adventure. We extended our family by inviting a close friend and her children to live with us. It was an unconventional move but it felt right. The five, yes five of us, and our caregivers all bonded and worked together and lived together as a family. Juliann, as always, pitched in and simply willed us into overcoming all the typical family problems and she did it in a way that left us knowing more about how to deal with our problems than we knew we could. She was the glue that bound us together. In spite of it all the burden of the disease gradually overcame Juliann’s physical ability to cope. Pain, lots of pain; Endured almost entirely in silence. Juliann looked through the pain right to the very end so that it wouldn’t block the last of her vision. She wouldn’t give it any quarter. Her doctors couldn’t help her any longer and she turned to Kansas City Hospice. Somehow she knew the end was here. Always the leader and stage manager, she orchestrated her final days. She organized her personal items, donated her body to science, said all the goodbyes that she could physically muster, made us all feel totally loved and then bravely - she was gone. Her final gift was to free us, her family, of the disease. She wanted to give me, a life free of the disease that haunted us for 25 years. She accomplished that by dying. She knew that it was the only way that I would have a life free of the disease. That is love. In closing, Juliann had several sayings or “Juliann-isms” she was fond of and I warned her that I would repeat them in public: It’s not cute to act cute It’s not pitiful to act pitiful It’s polite to act polite One enjoys where one succeeds And all things living will die. Throughout Juliann’s life she loved glass; especially the crystals from chandeliers. She would hang them in windows and wait for sunlight to strike them casting prismatic rainbows. She collected colored glass objects and always arranged them in the correct prismatic order “Roy-G-Biv”. Her fascination of light and its colors was endless. Forever, when I see the spectrum of a rainbows color I see the many hues of Juliann’s beauty. June 17, 1953 to August 14, 2003. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray I trust you know dear how much I love you Even when my sunshine's away.