Beth Wadden was an excellent athlete—she loved swimming, skiing and volleyball. She was a junior counselor at Camp Reed and an accomplished student. At a very young age, Beth was the sort of child who would sit at the top of the stairs listening to the conversations her parents had with friends, and when she participated in the discussions, she spoke and listened like an adult.

When Beth died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma on her sixteenth birthday, her parents, Dr. Anthony Wadden and Emily Gordon, wanted to continue her legacy and honor her life. The family created the Beth Wadden Memorial Fund, and today that fund supports the Libraries of Stevens County where Beth’s mother has lived for years.

Emily explains, “Beth was an avid reader, and she would have loved a library that brought special performers in during the summer to entertain the children.” Beth died in 1982, but today children in Stevens County benefit from her grace and spirit.