Obituary of Cori Lee McNiel

February 26, 1972 Cori Lee Foster was born in Eugene, OR. Her biological father was never really in the picture since very early in her life. At about 4 years old her mom Judy Rexroad started dating the man who would be her stepdad Dan Mashore. After Dan and Judy were married, Cori’s name was changed Cori Mashore and her parents moved into the Auburn school district. One day her dad wanted Cori to go with him to pick up a lawnmower and she really didn’t want to go. He forced her into it but she wasn’t so disappointed when heading home with her new horse Twilight in tow. Not much later she got what would be her favorite horse FasterMaster. She loved taking care of her horses, worked for a breeder down the road for a while and was able to ride her horse in the Good Ol’ Days parade in Auburn. As Cori grew older the time she spent with her horses began to get split between two more interests, her Ford Ranchero and boys. After graduating from Auburn High School in 1990 Cori had a few different jobs until settling in at a plastic company called Mikron in 1996. At work she noticed a rather large, hairy but attractive, younger man across the aisle that couldn’t seem to focus on his work much when she was around. That man was Devon McNiel and on April 21 st , 2001 they were married in a BBQ setting at Game Farm Park in Auburn. While dating and after they were married the couple enjoyed camping in the sand dunes quite often while Cori rode her ATV and Devon his dirt bike. They also became involved in a 4 wheel drive club where they took to the mountains in their custom Toyota 4runner. In November 2002 they moved into their first house here in Spanaway, got a couple dogs and 4 months later their first daughter Erin Lee McNiel was born. At that time Cori started quilting in her spare time making them for friends and relatives. Two years later Cori had another baby girl, Megan Pauline McNiel. Later in 2005 Cori left Mikron to be a stay at home mom. She really enjoyed taking care of the kids, planting flowers, quilting, and selling quilting squares on Ebay for some extra money. In May of 2007 Cori’s mother passed away. This started a very difficult year for Cori. That July Cori noticed a fairly severe pain in her hip and back area. After seeing a Dr. who suggested a chiropractor she had some adjustments done to realign her hips to her spine. When that provided no relief an MRI was ordered and in October 2007 she was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 kidney cancer. At that time her spine was broken where it had been destroyed from a large tumor where the cancer had spread to. In late October she went in for urgent surgery to remove her right kidney and two vertebrae in her lower back. After a two month hospital stay and about 3 months of learning to walk again Cori and the family started going camping again with no sign of cancer in her body but the knowledge that it was not gone, just microscopic, was ever present. With her own mortality becoming a reality she began asking questions about God. Her sister in law Sarah McNiel had tried out a couple churches in the area and invited Cori along to Sound Life Church. Her curiosity about God turned into a journey with Him and she brought Devon and the girls along. After 2 years from her original diagnosis life was pretty much back to normal except for more frequent doctor visits and a growing relationship with God. In the summer of 2009 while cleaning up the back yard her back cracked rather loudly and a creaking noise began where the original hardware was placed in her spine. With many scans following they found that some of her hardware had broken and she needed to go back under the knife to replace that broken hardware. Some of those scans also revealed 5 small tumors, some on her lungs, some other places. Chemotherapy and radiation started as she became well enough after surgery. On December 5, 2010 Cori publicly dedicated her life to Christ by being baptized in water here at Sound Life. Cori continued to find enjoyment in camping and quilting until she noticed that her right leg was not doing what her brain was telling it to do. As her physical abilities became worse and the chemo started taking her energy the camping became much less frequent and the quilts were not completed as quickly. Cori still found joy in day to day living, kids’ soccer matches, her animals- 2 dogs, 3 cats, family outings to places like the Olympic Game farm in Sequim and our annual trip to Jackson, Wyoming. After the trip there in July this last year we learned that the cancer had started to spread wildly through her body. None of the chemo drugs that have been tried in the last few months were working. With this last hospital visit it seemed that Cori was the only one who thought she would not be coming back to the house. She was preparing to go to her home in heaven. On her last full day here on earth many friends and family visited her room in the hospital and she was telling everyone “Thank you” and “I love you”. The next day she said it was time to go, her girls said goodbye before leaving the room, Cori had close friends and relatives with her when she took her last breath, beginning her trip to meet Jesus. Later that day her daughter Erin said “She is in heaven now probably riding Faster Master”. Cori loved her animals, loved her family, loved people in general. If she were here now she would tell us to love and don’t sweat the small stuff.