Five to be honored at Cancer Run on Saturday

Annual event benefits Roger Good Cancer Center

The Porterville Breakfast Rotary Club will once again host its annual Cancer Run/walk/roll at Granite Hills High School. This year’s event, the 15th, will be held on Saturday.

The Cancer Run raises funds to be used locally, benefit the community and the Roger S. Good Cancer Treatment Center (CTC). Since its inception, over $500,000 has been allocated for service line expansion, new technologies, building infrastructure and a successful community outreach program designed to educate Porterville residents on cancer prevention and early detection.

Race time is 8 a.m. and participants can run, walk or stroll the course. It is

a family event and draws parents with children. Late registration will be taken beginning at 7 a.m. on Saturday.

This year, the run is honoring the lives of five men and women who courageously battled cancer.

Gregory David Kaye passed away on an early morning in February 2017 after a 14 month battle with brain cancer.

Kaye was born in Long Beach in December 1959, grew up in Palos Verdes and was the middle of five siblings. They were all very close. Kaye attended Stanislaus University where he met Christy. They married August 1987 in Springville when they were soon blessed with three daughters, Chelsea, Amanda, and Shannon. They called themselves the “Feisty Five.”

Kaye enjoyed building things and made it his career as home designer. He loved coaching his daughters and running races with his wife. Greg would be happiest coming home from a long day at work and spending time with his loved ones at the pool. To his family and friends, he was passionate about every aspect of life, being known for his clever sense of humor and making the simple things seem extraordinary.

Kenneth Ray Green was born in Aiken, S.C., in December 1954. Growing up, Green managed to get into every type of mischief there was with his brother and cousins. He and his wife, Annie, had the chance to celebrate 34 years of marriage just a week before his passing.

He had a great sense of humor and a zest for life. He even had a bumper sticker that said “I love life” and he certainly lived his life to the fullest. He loved the simple things, his family, friends, backyard bonfires, “piddling” in his garden, fishing, going to Disneyland to eat corn dogs from the Red Wagon on Main Street, watching golf and football and traveling.

This loving father, brother, husband lost his battle to cancer in October 2016.

Tate Jon “Tater” Henschel was born in October 1961 and died November 2016 after a very tough battle with cancer. Whether you called Henschel friend or family, if you had the pleasure of spending any time with him, you knew he was a very special, loving, caring, crazy and funny man.

Henschel set the bar very high as a father and grandfather, flying across the country for many military graduations, walking his daughter down the aisle, and waiting outside the delivery room for the births of his grandchildren. He had many hobbies he shared with his family and friends such as hunting, fishing, barbecuing, gardening and farming.

Gloria Zataray was a devoted nurse and grandmother. She instilled in her loved ones that often the simple things in life are the most important. Although she is no longer by her family’s side, they still hold the simple things in their hearts.

Zataray always wanted to help people and was known as a serious, hard-working, dedicated woman to her family. She had a love of animals and expressed to her family that animals needed to be treated the same as people. Her granddaughter recalls fond memories of her where she would stop by a field of llamas, and take the time to talk to them. It always made her granddaughter laugh.

Barbara Grant Kangas Armor succumbed to cancer in January 2017. Growing up, along with her siblings and friends, she enjoyed spending time at the Tule River whether it be swimming, sunning, or tubing. She graduated from Santa Clara University and became a teacher in Monterrey.

Armor moved to Springville where she became a soccer coach, 4-H leader, and a substitute teacher for Springville School and Porterville High School for over 20 years. She loved spending time in her community and with her family. In 1997, she reconnected with her close childhood friend, Bill Armor, and they married December 1997.

Bill and Barbara enjoyed walking their Golden Retrievers and loved conversing with friends and family they would encounter on their walks. As a teacher and mother, she strived to instill confidence and personal responsibility in her children and students.

“The mission of Breakfast Rotary is to serve others. It is my hope that they look at our partnership over the years and are proud of the work done and lives we have touched,” said CTC Director Crystal Davis. “I look forward to another successful year and hope everyone will join us on race day.”

To take part in this year’s Cancer Run, visit http://brkfstrotary.weebly.com/ for competitive and non-competitive registration options.