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Honoring Laurie Mendez

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My sweet, sister,  Laurie Mendez,  suddenly and unexpectedly left this planet and went to Heaven recently, leaving a gaping hole inside many of the lives she touched. We lost Laurie due to complications from pneumonia that quickly caused septic shock and her organs shut down. Yes, it sounds a lot like the Cover virus although that was not the diagnosis at the time and it was early on in the testing for it and no test was done.

The impossible task of saying goodbye to a sweet, kind and loving  sister, friend, daughter and wife is many of ours now and it hurts deeply. What a struggle it has been and continues to be. This struggle has been magnified by our inability to locate our mother as she has been in the process of moving from another state to be close to her children and does not have a cell phone nor computer and Laurie’s husband’s diagnosis of brain cancer right after Laurie’s passing. That struggle includes paying for a funeral and burial that properly honors the amazing and wonderful person our sister Laurie was.

The outpouring of loving and caring comments from Laurie’s friends and family has been overwhelming. She clearly impacted many people’s lives in a hugely positive way with her big,  infectious smile,  sweet, fun loving nature and sincere empathy for everyone. Laurie  was curious, observant, romantic, cheerful, thoughtful, enthusiastic and enjoyable, amongst so many other great things.

Laurie has departed at a much too young age and we are devastated. Without her husband and mother able to help, we have had to take on the arrangements and costs associated with her funeral and burial. This gofundme is to help her family with those costs so that we can honor Laurie with the goodbye that she deserves and lay her to rest in the Santa Barbara Cemetery where many of her deceased family members are buried; most importantly, her father and her "grandmama", both of whom Laurie loved dearly. The funeral costs total about $1,000 and the burial costs total around $8,000 (burial site, headstone, burial process, urn, death certificate, burial permit, etc.)

Any excess money received will be used toward the protection and care of Hawaiian Sea Turtles (Honu), a cause dear to Laurie. Laurie loved animals from the Hawaiian sea turtles to her fascination with small dogs especially Shih Tzus to the cotton tail rabbits that ran wild past her office window at home each morning.

Every donation helps and is deeply appreciated. We thank you very, very much for contributing to this fundraiser and for your generosity and compassion to ensure that Laurie is honored well for the powerful impact she had on so many of us.

We would also be most grateful if you would please share this gofundme with your network of friends and family to help us reach our funding goal. We have received many donations however, we still are short of our necessary funding.  

We understand many people prefer not to donate through a third party such as GoFundMe. Should you wish to contact us directly as other donors have, please send an email to [email redacted] with your contact information and how we can help, so we can get back to you. 


Sincerely,

Laurie’s sister and brother, Karen and Mark

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Donations 

  • Leeanna De Herrerra
    • $25
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Karen .
Organizer
Encinitas, CA

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