May 6th the school district organized teams and St. Olaf College hosted the annual American Cancer Society’s “Relay for life” at the St. Olaf Football field. 
Relay members, after gathering donations, walked or ran around the track, listened to music, and visited with others concerned about the fight against Cancer. The track was lined with white bags with candles and bearing the names of remembered friends and relatives lost or struggling against cancer.
The event began with a walk recognizing cancer survivors, many I talked to, who had participated in the past said it is always the most moving part of the event. There were a number of performers encouraging the walkers with music, a number of them St. Olaf student groups. 
I was happy to see Ray Coudret Northfield teacher with his group Scattered Skies performing several sets. Molly Peterson who works in the School District office and lost her husband to cancer, did a lot to organize the teams of educators who walked and ran in the event. There were many others from the college and community who took part and enjoyed the beautiful spring evening. 
I walked in memory of my uncle, Chauncey Bly, who died in the early ’90s and as I walked I thought of him and his long life of service. He was someone who grew up not far from the track I walked around, someone who studied to be a doctor and worked a number of years researching a cure for cancer, the very disease that took him in the end. He was one of six children, four of whom survived to adulthood, four remarkable Northfielders.
The oldest my aunt became a nurse and was sent by Lutheran mission to start a clinic for victims of Leprosy in the Pescador Islands between Taiwan and the mainland of China. Youngest of the four was my father. My uncle Ted served in the Navy joining near the end of the Second World War, he retired a Lt. Commander and worked as an engineer all time doing various volunteer work and still volunteers his time to help others.
My uncle Chauncey oldest of the boys but always Marjorie’s younger brother skipped a grade in school to be in her class. He was always pushing ahead and excelling when others might not have survived, a man of rare courage. As a boy, he and his parents and siblings and others hid in the cellar of their home in Hsinyang, Honan, China avoiding the war for control of the province going on outside. During a moment of silence he snuck out to gather bullets that lay strewn all over the yard. His mother was horrified that he could have been killed, but he carried the small box of broken shells and lead shot all the way back to Minnesota where they remained in my attic (I live in the family home) until he came to retrieve them a couple of years before he died. He had lost his hair from the radiation treatment but was not slowed by the pain or the embarrassment. He told us the story of his visit to Beijing in the midst of the Tiananmen Square student protests. He stood in the Square shoulder to shoulder with the students his video camera running as the tanks rolled in. As people panicked and began to run away he rolled the camera in his jacket and made his way through the crowded streets back to his hotel. In college he had been a champion swimmer after recovering from a bout with polio. Later in life he was the President of a small college in Greenville, Pennsylvania where he ended his life.
Then as the darkness descended the candles in the bags were lit creating a beautiful silent memorial as walkers circled the field in the glow. I left soon after that tired but refreshed in the memory of my uncle’s long struggle to live a life rich and fulfilled in spite of cancer’s threat.
I believe late donations can still be sent to St. Olaf’s Cancer Connection: Attn. Ashley Miller, 1500 St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN 55057