Tiana Richardson Memorial Fund

Hi, my name is Aurora and I am Tiana's oldest sister. As I'm sure you've heard, Tiana passed away suddenly on Wednesday, August 17th. Her boyfriend, Kelly, discovered her body in her bed on Friday. From what we can tell from her phone records, she appeared to be starting her morning routine when something happened. We may never know the full truth of what happened, but she had long suffered from MS and had recently been suffering from an inflamed thyroid that was causing her difficulty with breathing.

Due to her ongoing medical conditions, Tiana was on Social Security and Medicaid, which helped provide security when she had a flare-up and couldn't work, and also covered much of her medical bills. Unfortunately, this also required her to keep her savings at the very minimum, or else risk losing coverage. And while she did have accidental death insurance, it was a new policy, and based on conversations our family has had with the insurance agents, it likely will not cover the circumstances of her passing as these policies tend to only cover car accidents.

We are putting this fund together for anyone who would like to help contribute toward helping us meet her final wishes. She had desired to have her remains cremated, with her ashes placed at the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast, and in a columbarium somewhere in the Portland Metro area. She wanted friends and family to gather at the Gorge to celebrate her life and distribute some of these ashes, and that service will likely be held in early October. If there are additional funds beyond what is needed, our family has decided to make a donation to the MS Foundation on her behalf.

Tiana was passionate, loving, and generous. She was intensely loyal to her friends in such a way that she had many "best friends" because that's how she made her friends feel. She volunteered regularly for the Vancouver Farmers Market, was a valuable team member for Self Balance Massage, managed a support group for MS called Keep S'Myeline, and enjoyed painting, bargain shopping, and the outdoors. She had dreamed of being able to hike the Columbia River Gorge again. Please help us make this dream come true for her.