On
January 18, 2011 FUAH's co-founder & vice-president our friend and inspiration, Carolyn Wagner, passed away after a
long struggle with cancer, Hepatitis B from a contaminated blood transfusion,
and liver failure.
Carolyn was the mother of a hate
crime victim. In December 1996 her 16 year old son William was
assaulted in a vicious anti-gay bashing at school. He survived but
with lasting injuries, The Wagners filed a complaint with
the Office For Civil Rights that the Fayetteville Arkansas School
District was in violation of their son's
Title lX rights and
succeeded in convincing the OCR that GLBT students are
covered by Title lX. The Supreme Court upheld Title lX
rights for students, regardless of gender of victim or
harasser or sexual orientation/gender identity.
Listen to
FUAH board member
Steve Schalchlin's song
"William's Song (Five Big Guys)" about
Carolyn and William Wagner:
From 1974
to 1976 Carolyn was a volunteer lay therapist for S.C.A.N.
(Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect) of Fort Smith, Arkansas.
In 1979 she founded Fulfill A Dream, Inc. (an organization
to assist families with limited income/resources meet needs
and or fulfill dreams for children with catastrophic and or
terminal diseases).
JAYCEES NAME AWARD RECIPIENTS - January 21, 1984 "Carolyn Wagner, president of Fulfill A Dream, Inc. of Fort Smith, an
organization which helps grant the dreams of terminally ill children, was
named the 43rd recipient of the Fort Smith Jaycees' Carnall "Tiny" Gardner
Award for distinguished community service."
It merged in 1993 to form Make A Wish
Foundation and moved its offices to Memphis, TN.. In 1983
Carolyn founded Camp Rainbow for children in AR, OK, MO, TN,
and LA, MS who had cancer and at the time could not attend
other camping facilities. The camp's mission was to provide
normal living experiences for children experiencing abnormal
living conditions and their siblings as well as to give
parents/caregivers a week of respite. It merged to form C.O.C.A. (Children's Oncology
Camps of America).
