I first met DeNova last spring while traveling to Olympia for the first time to express my concerns with some legislation being considered. I found her to be kind, smart, and gentle. In May of 2019, just six months ago, we met again at a library board meeting that birthed a tremendous community movement to protect children from sexualization through DQSH at libraries, state mandated sex ed, and other concerning issues. A group formed that evening as we came together to protest and galvanize the community in an effort to stop drag events for children in the King County Libraries. June was a blur to all of us, as there were multiple events held both for preschoolers and teens. DeNova quickly emerged as a leader of this effort. She was persistent, faithful, and hardworking, and organized. She plowed through piles of emails, organizing and spotting information. She was focused, thoughtful, kind, and dedicated. She had a wry sense of humor and would say things with an even voice, a straight face, and a twinkle in her eye. Multiple messenger threads set up for all manner of projects and ideas were constantly pinging on our phones. DeNova had amazing amounts of creativity and she never seemed to be asleep. Often my phone would be pinging at 2am. There were many, many late night planning and debriefing sessions. I can truly say that I have confidence that the children of a Western Washington, both in King County and in the Vancouver area, are safer because of her amazing efforts. Just a few days before her sudden passing, we drove down to Vancouver together to attend an event. We shared lunch at the Olive Garden. We prayed for our kids. We talked about all the plans we had for the following days and weeks. I was especially grateful for her support that day. I still can’t believe she’s gone, and I’m so grateful that our paths came together in such a powerful way for the last six months. I can only imagine what she heard as she entered the presence of God: Well done, good and faithful servant.
