Rebecca brought light and love to everyone she met for 32 short years. She was brilliant, learning to play chess at 4 years old, reading the newspaper at 5, excelling in school and serving 10 years as a Mandarin Chinese Linguist in the Air Force. But her intelligence is not what friends and family remember. What we miss most is her compassionate heart. A fellow linguist wrote, “What I remember about her was that she was all about inclusion. She didn’t want anyone to feel left out, ever. Rebecca was basically the person who would create joy where it may not have existed before. I could come to the office feeling sad and beat down, and she’d send me an email from her desk right behind me just saying “Coffee? Wanna walk up to Seattle’s Best?”. She could always sense when something wasn’t quite right, and she wanted to see if there was something she could do to help. That could apply to so many things in her life, she just wanted to help. Single mom-to-be? Rebecca wanted to throw you a baby shower. Stressed out and overwhelmed by life? She wanted to fix what could be fixed, or just simply listen with a compassionate ear. When she was no longer serving her country, she was serving her community... because she wanted to help.” She loved great food, live music, her friends and family, but most of all, she loved her two young daughters. Life goes on, it’s true, but for those who knew and loved her, the world is a darker place without her shining light.