Obituary of Laura Leigh Day Fuqua

Laura went to be with the angels Friday with her father and family by her bedside. Her third battle with metastatic breast cancer is over; she suffers no more. Laura was born in Oscoda, Michigan, the youngest of three children in an Air Force family. After her parents separated, she moved several times with her mother, eventually settling in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met and married Michael. They moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1990 and had their first child, Benjamin. They returned to Phoenix the next year and had their second child, Zachary, and divorced shortly thereafter. In 1999 she earned her degree in Social Work at Arizona State University, and was thereafter employed by the state in the work that was a great source of pride to her, finding homes for and placing distressed children. After her second bout with breast cancer, she was pronounced cancer free. Her mother had moved to Costa Rica and her oldest son was starting college; in August of 2009, she relocated her youngest son and their dog Dakoda back to the Pacific Northwest to be close to her father, brothers and step family where they all lived. She found the best school possible for her son in University Place. She was building her new life here when in February 2010 the tumor that eventually took her life first appeared. One of the hardest decisions she had to make was to send her son back to Arizona so he wouldn’t have to watch her suffering. It was a long and hard fight and she was up to the challenge, but to no avail. She is survived by her father, Lawrence (Larry) Day of Lakebay and his wife, Connie; her mother Janath Beecher Day Cristo of Costa Rica; her brothers Scott and Douglas, both of Bremerton: her sons Benjamin, 20, and Zachary, 14, both of Tempe, Arizona; a step brother Romi Cortier of Hollywood; her step sisters Tina of Port Orchard and Tami of Lakebay, nephews Douglas, Sean, Josh, Matthew, Joseph, Brandon and Tristan; nieces Corrine, Brittani, Rhianna, Jacqueline and Shelby. She and her father are both deeply appreciative of the quality of care and the character of the people who provided for her care at the Tacoma General Oncology Clinic, at Allenmore Hospital, and at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Donations may be made in Laura’s name to the American Cancer Society