Dear Family and Many Friends of Val,
I worked alongside Val for many years at Riverside Medical Center, through times that were exciting, rewarding and fun, and during other periods of greater challenge. She was a colleague, a friend, a character, a vibrant soul, and often somewhat of a motherly presence to those about her, readily sharing her thoughts or dispensing advice, this sometimes very candid or personal, and nonetheless always interesting. She was one of the first to advise a thumbs up on the love of my life, and for that alone Val and the memories she stirs will always live in a special place in my heart. Some of Val's stories were truly epic, from childhood memories of fleeing a tsunami through submerged hazardous Hawaiian streets to being swept away in a different sense by the gallant figure of a young uniformed Al.
Each year at Christmas, Julie and I have always shared memories of Val with smiles and some laughs when we've found a special place on the tree for a decoration given to us by Val. It is a little Hawaiian fisherman with a smile as big as the fish on his line, and a crazy bright and happy Hawaiian shirt not unlike those Val wore. I'd like to think of Val now in such a Hawaiian shirt, hand-in-hand with her Al cutting a dashing figure in uniform, a shining beautiful and happy pair such that only heaven can hold, sharing their own special memories of their blessed lives and beloved families. Rich and Julie Veiga
