She was a strong person, they said. A beautiful person, a brilliant person.

Yet Annie Nelson, who would have been 20 next month, could also be serious, stubborn, empathetic and silly.

Remembering this, friends who attended her memorial service last Wednesday at Mount Si High School honored her memory by lightening the mood at the event whenever it turned somber.

“Annie really wanted for this to be more of a celebration, and not a sad thing,” said friend and neighbor Sharon Hockenbury, whose daughter Taryn, organized the memorial with the help of another close friend and classmate with Annie, Samantha Iverson.

Dianna “Annie” Jene Nelson died July 29, almost two years exactly after she was diagnosed with non-rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft-tissue cancer that started as a painful lump on her back.

When she was diagnosed, Annie had been looking ahead to her last year of high school. She missed most of her senior year though, because she immediately started an aggressive course of treatment for the cancer.

“They really hit her hard at Children’s (Hospital) as far as the first six months,” recalled her mother, Joanne. Annie had surgery to remove the lump, followed by both radiation therapy and chemotherapy. By February, she was in remission, able to return to school, her friends, and her boyfriend, Spencer Newsad.

A strong person

A little dazed, Newsad watches as a couple of hundred people trickle into the Mount Si Commons for Annie’s memorial. He only knew her since his junior year, he said, and had no idea how many people knew and loved her.

“She was a fiercely intelligent, sensitive, beautiful young woman who had no enemies,” Newsad said. “I guess she touched a lot of lives.”

That was one of two phrases that resounded about the musician, artist, and beloved friend that they came to honor. She touched a lot of lives, and she made up her own mind.

“She was really involved in school, had a lot of friends,” said her mother, talking about the many people Annie has touched.

Then she adds, “She was a force to be reckoned with!”

The doctors at Children’s Hospital had given Annie that nickname shortly after they began treating her.

“If Annie either wanted to do something or didn’t want to do something, there was no getting in her way,” Joanne said.

For example, whenever the doctors proposed a new treatment option, Annie did her research on it first before deciding whether to try it. She assumed responsibility for her treatment, and made all the decisions, whether her parents liked it or not.

“It was scary at times for us as parents,” Joanne said, but she and her husband John learned to “go with the flow…. we didn’t have a whole lot of choice, because she turned 18 about three months after she was diagnosed.”

Annie showed great maturity in other ways, as well as sensitivity. Geometry teacher Christine Kjenner rememebered talking to Annie the year Annie’s sister Carly was in her class. “After she was diagnosed, Annie came in to see me, to see how her sister was doing,” she said.

When Annie was able to return to school, she made up her coursework easily. Always smart, Annie was a National Merit Finalist during her school career. Language arts teacher Chris Jackson said “She was one of the most brilliant students I’ve ever taught, and a sweet kid.”

Changed plans

Graduating on time with her Class of 2010, Annie was looking forward to college. She had been accepted at two schools, Reed College in Oregon, and Western Washington University. Her follow-up cancer screening at three months was clean.

The bad news came at six months.

“It was literally a year after her diagnosis, that she went in for scans and they found it in her lungs,” Joanne said.

Her plans for college were put on hold, and Newsad took a gap year, too, but Annie didn’t put her life on hold. She “fought her cancer in style,” one friend said. She continued to do the things she enjoyed throughout the year, and into this summer.

Joanne, still trying to be a cautious mom, wanted her to rest and take it easy, but now, is glad she didn’t.

“It kind of seemed like she was wrapping things up,” she said.

Friends put together a slide show and video presentation on Annie for the memorial service, seeking closure as well.

“I think it was healing for them, and it was wonderful for us,” Joanne said. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to thank them enough.”

Annie is survived by her parents, John and Joanne Nelson, an older brother Nick, and a younger sister, Carly.