Obits

I am one of those folks who read the obituaries. Don't ask me why. I guess it is because I would rather see that a friend or acquaintance died in print rather than hearing it via the grapevine. Either way I was shocked to see that one of my favorite runners had passed away. Some of you may know her since she placed in most events in the 60 plus age group. Her name is Beth Manning Tomanelli. She died peacefully on Nov. 18th from pancreatic cancer. At the Thanksgiving Day run walk for MS I spoke with her husband Rocco and her brother Bill Manning. Bill told me that she was a chubby kid who did not start running till in her 40's. I told Bill that she held both the 10k and 5k records in this event for her age group. Rocco told me she was diagnosed in September. Three months later she passed away. In her obituary instead of flowers she wanted donations to be made to the Western YMCA or to races2run. I cried when i read this. I felt that she chose me to help out others who are less fortunate. Barb and I decided that we would put together a scholarship in Beth's name for the Girls on the Run Delaware program. Beth's husband and family were thrilled about this and donations are coming in via mail and online. Donations online can be made here:
https://www.raceit.com/Fundraising/?event=2513
or via mail to PO Box 24, Montchanin, DE 19710.
I would hope that Beth too would be pleased.