Wings of Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Research

April 2024

James C. O'Riordan

May 7, 1963 - April 10, 2024

James Cornelius O’Riordan, 60, of Calais, Vermont, loving husband and devoted father of two, passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, surrounded by the love of his family after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.

Born May 7, 1963, in Oakland, California, he was the son of John and Kathleen Reardon. James (Jim or Seamus) grew up in Lafayette, CA, and attended St. Perpetua School in Lafayette, CA, De La Salle High School in Concord, CA, Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Geography from San Francisco State University. While growing up in CA, Jim spent many summers with his family in the Sierra Nevada mountains at their cabin at Pinecrest Lake, where his love for the outdoors became cemented in his being.

Jim and his wife Pam met and fell in love in 1997 while he was temporarily visiting a dear friend from New Mexico in Roxbury, Vermont. They shared a love of the outdoors among other things, especially skiing/snowboarding, biking, kayaking, traveling, live music, and animals, and knew they had found someone special in each other to share their life. Jim proposed to Pam in pure Jim fashion on the beach on an island in Maine while they were looking out at the ocean among the seals. Jim had found in Pam another adventurous spirit and they enjoyed so many things together including honeymooning in Bali, kayaking to remote islands in Maine, traveling to Ethiopia to adopt their daughter, camping with their children, and attending many concerts and music festivals. Before Jim came to Vermont and could not bring himself to leave because of the beautiful snowboarding at Sugarbush and his newly found love with Pam, he resided in Volcano, HI; El Porvenir, NM; and San Francisco/Oakland, CA. During his seven years in New Mexico, Jim enjoyed snowboarding in Santa Fe, mountain biking, and riding horses among the beauty of Gallinas Canyon, where he showed his determination and tenacity by building a suspension bridge across a large river all on his own. While in New Mexico, Jim also learned some tricks of the plumbing trade and then obtained more experience installing and repairing water heaters while living back in the Bay Area.

When Jim first came to Vermont, he worked as a snowboard instructor at Sugarbush Resort in Warren and then as an Environmental Scientist at Stone Environmental in Montpelier. Then he entered the plumbing field with Bourne’s Energy followed by St. Cyr Plumbing and Heating before starting his own business, O’Riordan Plumbing and Heating, which he successfully ran for approximately 20 years. His plumbing work was meticulous and he worked very hard to provide quality service with a smile. He was overjoyed when he landed a job just this past January as a Master Plumber for the State of Vermont Buildings and General Services (BGS). He loved exploring and fixing plumbing issues in the Capital Building in Montpelier and had found a new camaraderie among the BGS staff in the short time that he was there. Jim was dearly loved and appreciated by all who got to work with him and by his many plumbing clients, whom he would often give the low-income, single parent, or friend discount which was usually a six-pack of beer, preferably Heady Topper.

Jim had a heart of gold and was the kindest friend anyone was lucky to have and the most loving and playful father. He will always be remembered for his lively and hilarious storytelling. Jim had a true zest for life and enjoyed snowboarding, mountain biking, fishing, hunting, beach life, camping, live music, traveling, gardening, playing with his kids, and spending time with his family and friends. His passion was mountain biking and he was a member of the Montpelier Area Mountain Bike Association (MAMBA). In 2007, he trained for and conquered the VT 50, a 50-mile mountain bike race in Ascutney, Vermont. Whenever Jim had spare time, you could find him mountain biking even in the winter smiling ear to ear on the roads or trails in Calais. Jim was also a big animal lover and enjoyed hiking and snowshoeing with his furry friends Cody, Sozie, and Ivy who were by his side in his final days.

Survivors include his loving wife Pam DeAndrea and his two children Skyler and Sinta O’Riordan, who were the light of his life, his mother Kathy Reardon, his sisters Mary Tallyn and her husband, Ed, and Susan Rusk and her husband, Jim, his brother-in-law Franz Krieg, his nephews Maximilian and his wife, Meg and Rex Krieg, his nieces Allison Fong and her husband, Brian, Jennifer Silva and her husband, Taylor, and Kathleen Rusk as well as his great-nephews Henry Fong and Owen Silva and great-niece Adeline Fong.

In addition to his father, John Cornelius Reardon, he was predeceased by his sisters Theresa Reardon, and Tish Krieg, and his stepfather Howard Kopping.

The service to honor and celebrate his life will be held on Sunday, May 26, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. in the Calais Town Hall, 1662 Kent Hill Road. There are no calling hours.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Wings of Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Research.

December 2023

REMEMBERING CATHY NOON

Cathy Noon, beloved civic leader who served as mayor of the City of Centennial for 8 years, passed away December 11 after courageously facing pancreatic cancer for five and a half years. Cathy’s legacy as an influential leader throughout the Denver metro area and the impact she had on programs, initiatives, and regional improvements will continue to enrich and benefit the lives of Centennial citizens for many years to come.

Cathy also leaves an indelible legacy in the tenacious and brave effort she displayed in not only fighting her own pancreatic cancer, but in raising awareness and funding for pancreatic cancer research at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. As a WINGS OF HOPE board member, Cathy spoke passionately at every fundraising event, participated in year round events, and was a driving force in the WINGS OF HOPE annual research grant presentations and awards. Cathy was a tireless and positive force in everything she did and will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered by many.

Two days after Cathy’s passing the WING OF HOPE board met for their annual research grant award presentations, which she had planned to attend. Cathy’s husband Jim, also a board member, attended because he knew how important this was to her. WINGS OF HOPE awarded $175,000.00 to several research projects that showed promising potential in diagnosing and treating this disease earlier and more effectively, which Cathy was always fighting for.

That meeting and those grant awards were dedicated and made in Cathy’s memory.

Jim and Cathy Noon and granddaughter Evie

June 2021

Dr. Joel S. Bennett

in Memoriam

Dr. Joel S. Bennett

Dr. Joel S. Bennett, groundbreaking blood researcher, passed away peacefully at home on June 21 at the age of 78. The cause was pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Bennett was Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Michigan for his undergraduate and medical education, and then came to Penn in 1967 for both his residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Hematology-Oncology. Except for a stint as a physician in the Air Force, Dr. Bennett never left Penn. During his fellowship training, he developed a love affair with platelets that never ended. Dr. Bennett became one of the early members of Penn’s Hematology-Oncology Division, and he was an invaluable member of the community for over four decades. During his time, Dr. Bennett’s career flourished, and he became an internationally recognized authority on platelet biology. He was the first to recognize that fibrinogen bound to the platelet GPIIb-IIIa receptor, thereby defining the molecular mechanism by which platelets aggregate together. This important finding paved the way for the development of drugs to block this process, such as abciximab and eptifibatide that have been used in millions of patients with coronary artery disease.

Dr. Bennett’s scientific contributions were published in the most renowned journals, and he was recognized by the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians for the excellence and breadth of his work. The American Society of Hematology named him a recipient of their Beutler Prize – this society’s highest honor. Dr. Bennett served as a long-standing chair of a NHLBI study section for Program Project grants, and for many years, was a member of the Department of Medicine’s Committee on Appointments and Promotions. His clinical acumen and his exquisite and thoughtful care of his patients was a lesson in grace and all that it means to be a doctor – and was the one from whom all his peers and colleagues sought advice about their most pressing cases.

An avid tennis player, Dr. Bennett was preceded in death by his father, Marvin and his mother, Rhoda. He is survived by his wife Evelyn, his children Lisa Bennett, Andrew Bennett, Lisa Dunn, Joe Goodman, David Goodman, his brother David Bennett and sister, Barbara Palmer, and nine grandchildren.

January 2020

Dominik Michal Wiktor, MD

in Memoriam

Dominik Michal Wiktor, MD

Dr. Dominik Wiktor, of Denver, CO, passed away peacefully on January 13, 2020 after a valiant battle with cancer. He spent his final days and weeks in this life at his home, surrounded by family and friends.

Born in Poland, September 29, 1980, Dominik came to the US as a young child and grew up in Connecticut. He is survived by his beloved wife, Dr. Marisa (Rosol) Wiktor and their two cherished daughters, Cecylia and Adeline, of Denver, CO; his parents, Tadeusz and Anna Wiktor, of Oxford, CT.; and his sister, Magdalena Wiktor and her husband Gabriel Luongo of Noank, CT. Dom is also survived by his parents-in-law, Dr. Stanley and Marcia Rosol of East Lansing, MI and brothers-in-law Ryan Rosol of Norman, OK and Dr. Derek Rosol of East Lansing, MI.

Dominik was an interventional cardiologist at the University of Colorado Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Medicine was his calling and life’s work. At 16, he began working as an EMT, which spurred his passion for helping and healing others. In 2003, he returned to his native Poland to attend medical school at Poznań University of Medical Sciences, where he earned his MD in 2007. He went on to complete post-doctoral training at Cleveland Clinic, residency at University Hospitals Cleveland, a fellowship in cardiology at Medical College of Wisconsin, and fellowships in adult congenital heart disease and interventional cardiology at University of Colorado.

In 2007, he met Marisa Rosol, a fellow fourth year medical student, during their clinical studies at Cleveland Clinic. For their first date, they attended Mass together, a fitting beginning for two people of strong faith. On September 4, 2010 Dominik and Marisa were married in Detroit, MI.

During their life together, Dom and Marisa supported one another in their training as physicians, first in Cleveland, OH, then in Milwaukee, WI, and finally settled, in Denver, CO, where they settled into professional and family life with their two daughters.

Dom lived life fully and was always up for a challenge or an adventure. He piloted airplanes, ran into burning buildings, made friends everywhere he went, owned and enthusiastically donned no fewer than three Buzz Lightyear costumes, to the great delight of his girls.

Dom was uncannily good at everything he tried. He was well-beloved by those around him wherever life took him. He was an excellent doctor. A phenomenal son and brother. He was a superhuman dad and an adoring husband. Dom was a great friend to many, had a fine sense of humor, and a commitment to teaching and helping those around him. He loved new experiences and was a joy to work with.

Those who knew Dominik Wiktor are the better for it. He was an amazing man who will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by his family, his many dear friends, his colleagues, and all those who had the great pleasure and blessing of knowing him.

In lieu of flowers, donations would preferably be directed to Wings of Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Research in Dom’s memory.

Wings of Hope is an amazing charity based in Colorado, with 100% of charitable funds going directly to the University of Colorado pancreatic cancer research teams.

2020

In Memoriam

PAM HAFEMANN

Over the years, the speakers at our WINGS OF HOPE annual benefits that have had the most impact and touched the most people have been those brave souls recounting their personal journeys with pancreatic cancer. Pam Hafemann spoke at two of our events, most recently this past September, when she shared her cancer had spread. To meet her was to know first hand what resilience is. To know her was to be in the presence of a faith so strong, so unshakeable, that you knew whatever was ahead she would meet head on with a peace that surpasses all understanding. It is with great sadness we learned of Pam’s recent passing. Pam did not lose her fight with pancreatic cancer as much as she lived a life of love, and light, and authentic connection with all who were fortunate enough to cross her path. Our loving support and prayers to Pam’s husband Gordon, her family and many friends. (Photo: Pam Hafemann at September 2019 WINGS OF HOPE benefit)