CHARLAINE MCLEES

Charlaine B. McLees aka SonicChar Char was born on February 12, 1935 in Tacoma, WA, and passed away on April 5, 2013. She was preceded in death by her husband Robert McLees, and is survived by Susan (Randy) Larsen of Puyallup, David (Sue) Mayfield of Fox Island, Vicki (Tony) Talbot of Ibstock, Leicestershire, England, grandchildren Charlyn Mayfield and Nicolas Mayfield, and her granddogs Savvy and Mac Larsen. Char resided in Tacoma her entire life. She boarded and graduated from Aquinas Academy in 1953. She began her career as a crane dispatcher at Cooney Cranes and retired at Coast Crane. There was a time that Mom was the only female dispatcher west of the Mississippi. She truly loved working in the crane business. Due to her construction background, she was affiliated with the A.G.C. of Washington since the 1960's. The AGC was a huge "family" for Mom. She became "Momma Char" to many of AGC members. Her favorite events were the dinner meetings and the golf tournaments. She won the best hole sponsorship 9 out of 10 tournaments. She was very proud of her "themed golf holes". One of Mom's passions was the Seattle Supersonics. She LOVED going to the Sonic games. She was season ticket holder #11. When the Sonics were in the playoffs, Mom and her good friend Sue Packman would fly to the games. Her favorite players were D.J., Downtown Freddie Brown, Dale Ellis, Paul Silas, Michael Cage, The Glove, and Ray Ray (Allen). Not only was she an avid Sonics fan, she loved watching all the NBA games. Nothing was better than a Sunday with 4 games being televised! The other passion Mom had was going to Disneyland 3 or 4 times a year. She and daughter Susan both have had annual passes for many, many years. It is truly unbelievable how many friends they both have in Southern CA - many of them are cast members at the park. No one could understand how they could go to Disneyland for at least a week at a time and never ever be bored. Everyone needs to go to the "Happiest Place on Earth"! When Mom was diagnosed with ocular melanoma in August of 2006 she knew it was going to be a tough fight. Her eye was immediately removed, and she received prosthetic eye. A couple of years later, the ocular melanoma was in her breast - again, it was immediately removed. Within a year or so the cancer had gone into her lungs. Since there is no cure for this disease, the decision was made to try experimental drugs. She went to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance weekly for approximately 6 months - no luck. She was then referred to a new experimental drug at the Angeles Medical Clinic in Santa Monica, CA. Mom flew to CA 3 days a week. Thankfully our dear friend Cathy Levesque was able to pick up Mom at the airport and then drop her off at the clinic. Two days later Cathy took Mom back to the airport and Mom flew back home. This went on weekly for 4 months - with not enough improvement to continue. Mom has been asked by many "why" would she even try experimental drugs. Mom's response was, "I want to live and would have tried everything I could have. She also said that I want to help others with this disease because without patients who are willing to try experimental drugs there will NEVER be a cure." Our family just found that ocular melanoma is fatal and patients only live an average of 6 months. So "yes" it was worth all the experimental trial drugs. She lived 6 years and 8 months with this disease. All the medications that she tried did give her much more time on this earth and for that we are very grateful. The family would like to thank Sue Packman, Nancy Stewart, Sandi Larsen, and Betty Davis for their compassionate care for our mother. Also, we could have never made this journey without the help of Roxanne and her staff at Kindred Care and Linda from hospice. Donations may be made to Ocular Melanoma Foundation, 1000 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036, or Franciscan Hospice House, 2901 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, WA 98466.