Our late son-in-law, Jon Jance, (He took our daughter\u2019s name when they married.) was 37 years old when he lost a nine-year battle with malignant\u00a0melanoma. \u00a0Because he was young and otherwise healthy, he signed up for every protocol that came his way. \u00a0He was Patient #6 on a T-cell protocol at\u00a0the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. \u00a0(A dozen years later T-cell treatments pioneered by Jon and other cancer treatment pioneers are giving hope and in\u00a0some cases remission to newly diagnosed melanoma patients.)<\/p>\n
What the T-cell protocol did for Jon is give him two extra years of reasonably good quality of life. \u00a0That course of treatment also gave us our grandson,\u00a0Colt, who was nine-months old when we lost his Daddy. \u00a0Obviously Colt has no memory of the graveside service at the Douglas A. Munro Memorial in\u00a0Cle Elum. \u00a0Jon was active duty Coast Guard at the time of his diagnosis, and he was part of the honor guard when the Douglas Munro Memorial was\u00a0dedicated. \u00a0That\u2019s where Jon wanted to be buried\u2014there with his fellow Coasties.<\/p>\n
The ceremony was moving. \u00a0The guys who did the 21-gun salute were a bunch of crusty old Vietnam vets, and they\u2019ve been there ever since\u2014every year\u00a0on Veteran\u2019s Day and Memorial Day\u2014to welcome Jeanne T. and Colt\u2014because that\u2019s where they go twice a year\u2014to Cle Elum to visit with Jon. \u00a0The\u00a0guys who did that service know Colt by name, and they remember him.<\/p>\n
Three years ago as a fourth grader, when Colt joined the school band at Rose Hill Elementary , he signed up to play trumpet, and then he went to the band instructor with a special request. \u00a0Between\u00a0September and the end of May, could he teach Colt to play\u00a0Amazing Grace\u00a0so he could play it for his Daddy on Memorial Day?. \u00a0As the band teacher told\u00a0Jeanne T. later, in more than thirty years of teaching band, he\u2019d never had that kind of request, but believe you me, that teacher delivered.<\/p>\n
When Jeanne T. and Colt are in the car, traveling back and forth to bowling tournaments or to church or to Doggy Day Care, she\u2019s Captain Kirk and he\u2019s Lt.\u00a0Uhura. \u00a0(I wonder if he\u2019s ever seen any of those original Star Trek episodes?) \u00a0But he does a terrific job of handling communications. \u00a0For a long time, they\u00a0had a favorite radio team. \u00a0Three years ago, in May, the DJs asked what people were planning to do on Memorial Day weekend. \u00a0Colt immediately dialed the station\u2019s number and\u00a0said he was going to go to the cemetery in Cle Elum to play\u00a0Amazing Grace<\/em>\u00a0on his trumpet for his Daddy. \u00a0My understanding is that the station\u00a0went straight to a commercial break, because there wasn\u2019t a dry eye in the house. \u00a0When they came back on air, they asked Colt if he\u00a0would come to the station and play\u00a0Amazing Grace<\/em>\u00a0for them. \u00a0He did.<\/p>\n At the time Colt was a beginning trumpet player. \u00a0His performance may not have been brilliant, but give the kid credit for being brave. \u00a0Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass was in\u00a0no danger of being overtaken by a fourth-grader named Colt Jance, but he played the piece live and on the air, and we were very proud of him.<\/p>\n Tonight I went to see the Rose Hill Middle School’s fall band concert. Colt, now in Jazz Band, was one of two soloists in the jazz band segment. (He also functioned as stage manager for the entire production, handling microphones and rearranging the seats on stage. \u00a0When the jazz band\u00a0swung into a toe-tapping version of\u00a0Tuxedo Junction<\/em>, I had goose bumps. \u00a0Colt’s solo came in the next number,\u00a0Oye, \u00bfc\u00f3mo va?<\/em>\u00a0which, loosely translated\u00a0and, as far as I can tell, means, \u201cHey, how\u2019s it going?” \u00a0The piece was wonderful, and so was Colt\u2019s performance. \u00a0 I applauded like crazy. \u00a0There may\u00a0even have been a stray, unauthorized, and culturally inappropriate coyote yip or two thrown into the mix.<\/p>\n Tonight\u2019s solo was a long way from that initial rendition of\u00a0Amazing Grace.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Colt\u2019s Mommy was proud; his Grandma was proud; and I\u2019m sure his Daddy\u00a0would have been proud, too. \u00a0I only wish Jon could have been there to see Colt do it.<\/p>\n When my mother, Evie, first became a grandmother in the late Fifties, she referred to herself as an SIG with PIP, which, loosely translated, means \u201cSilly Old\u00a0Grandma with Pictures in Purse.\u201d \u00a0Given the changes in technology, I suppose that acronym needs to be changed to SIG with POP\u2014Silly Old Grandma\u00a0with Pictures on Phone.<\/p>\n And if you don\u2019t believe me, just ask because, as you\u2019ll soon learn, I really am a chip off the old block.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our late son-in-law, Jon Jance, (He took our daughter\u2019s name when they married.) was 37 years old when he lost a nine-year battle with malignant\u00a0melanoma. \u00a0Because he was young and otherwise healthy, he signed up for every protocol that came his way. \u00a0He was Patient #6 on a T-cell protocol at\u00a0the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. 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