Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

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There was a continuous PowerPoint presentation of photos from her life. There were talks by bereaved friends and family members. There was music, including a stirring rendition of "Down to the River to Pray," from the movie soundtrack "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Isaac Williams acted restless through it all. He settled down only toward the end, when his father, Bob Williams, took him in his arms and strode up and down the aisle, talking.

"He talked about Laura and her life and how being married to her had made a man of him, and a father, and how lucky he was to have had her as long as he did," said Vivian Whorley, Laura's mother, who lives nearby.

Bob, a software writer who telecommutes in his job with Meridium Inc., in Roanoke, had cried often during the service. But he was composed with his son in his arms, and Isaac was at peace, as well.

Isaac turned 1 year old on Sunday. His mother wasn't there to see him. Her 18-month struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, ended the way all such struggles end, with her death. She was 39.

Love in bloom

Laura's decade-long romance with Bob and their marriage in 2003 succumbed when she did, on Feb. 21. Their holiday-like life at Folly Beach, S.C., by then had succumbed to the degenerative disease that robbed her, as Bob said last November, of her body, her dignity and her humanity.

They met as students at Virginia Western Community College. They ate breakfast at Famous Anthony's near Tanglewood Mall and they became best friends.

They had no idea what lay ahead, but none of us does.

Laura's sickness and death devastated Bob and her siblings. Vivian Whorley felt grief but also a kind of peace.

A few years ago, Laura walked away from a horrific car crash.

"If she had died then, it would have been such a terrible shock," Whorley said. "This was hard, too, but she suffered so long ...."

She paused.

"At this point," she said, "I think there are lots worse things than death. Laura was in the midst of one."

Whorley wishes she could have taken her place. A lot of people do.

Laura kept turning her ankle the day she was married, an indication, her family believes, that her illness had already begun.

By the time she received a diagnosis, she was pregnant. She and Bob rejected doctors' suggestions that she abort the baby. Isaac was born healthy, via natural childbirth.

A grueling situation

"The one saving thing [about Laura's illness and death] has been the baby," said Robert Williams, Isaac's grandfather, who lives with his wife, Anne, in Fincastle.

As the ALS progressed, Bob and Laura spoke out in favor of research, including stem cell research that might save others from the disease.

Now, Laura's loved ones are left to reflect.

ALS, Bob's father said, is "a death sentence."

Her 18 months of suffering, said her sister, Cinnamon Buelk, "went so fast, and yet at the time we were going through it, it seemed so slow."

Vivian Whorley said, "Hospice was unbelievable. They are such wonderful, wonderful people. They are a saving grace for people who have illness in their family."

I never caught up with Bob, who, by all accounts seems to be holding up well at this point.

Family members continue to gain solace from the cards and letters they've received. The cost to Bob of Laura's illness is unclear because of difficulties with the Social Security Administration, Buelk said. Meanwhile, contributions are coming into Isaac's college fund at P.O. Box 1856, Folly Beach, SC 29439.

Laura Williams, an artist and preschool art teacher, had a motto: "Dance on the waves through the storms of life."

Her great storm is over. Her mother is back at work, tending the gardens - and her thoughts - at a monastery in Monck's Corner.

"I'm planting," she said. "Life continues even in the midst of death."