By Kristine Thomas
Almost every day, Kathryn Cramer is visited by angels.
Not the kind you see in the movies with the feathery wings, glistening white gowns, saintly smiles or glowing halos. Instead, her angels come in tennis shoes or clogs, sweatshirts or sweaters.
Some bring meals for her and husband, Tim, and 16-year-old daughter, Bonnie. Some clean her home.
Others drive her to medical appointments. Many just offer words of kindness or encouragement, a smile or a hug.
Cramer, who was diagnosed with a rare form of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, this summer, considers her friends and family “angels.”
“I have received unbelievable support from the community,” Cramer said. “It would be a lot harder road to travel without all that support.”
Her “angels” invite community members to “Calling All Angels” from 6 to 8 p.m., Dec. 2 at Lunaria Gallery, 113 N. Water St. Lunaria artists are creating works with an angel theme to be sold in a silent auction benefiting Cramer. The auction closes Dec. 19. The money raised will go to the Kathryn Cramer Medical Fund.
Artists Ann Altman and Theresa Burgett are working with Mark Twain Middle School students to make angels to decorate Lunaria for December.
Cramer, an art and ESL teacher at Mark Twain and a member of Lunaria Gallery and Raks Sarama Belly Dancing Troupe, said the cancer diagnosis came as a shock.
“I was tired all the time, taking naps and was sick repeatedly with sinus infections,” she said, adding she went to the doctor three times before she was diagnosed with CLL. Treatments started immediately, with the second course working better than the first. 
Altman said Cramer’s family, her teaching, her art and her dancing all things that are a part of her and add up to a truly complete person.
“Insofar as anyone can, what Kathryn does has the goal of making the world a better place,” she said. “To my mind, Kathryn is a bright and shining light that illuminates and inspires all of us. She is serious and funny, careful and carefree, these days both fragile and strong – I guess whatever it is, her emotions are right there, no guesswork. But even when she is mad, she is kind and/or she will see something funny in a situation.”
Altman said all the aspects of emotions are reflected in Cramer’s art.
“That is – no pretense, a love of nature, a willingness to dig in – literally in the printmaking techniques – to make things work out, thoughtfulness and the like,” Altman said.
Friend and fellow artist Julie Huisman drives Cramer to doctor appointments. “I feel like I’ve receive a treasure when I have been with Kathryn,” she said. “She’s my angel. She’s going through so much and she appreciates so much. It’s an honor to help her.
“Kathryn has an amazing attitude. She doesn’t like having cancer and it scares her but she doesn’t let it control her life. She has taught me to slow down and enjoy what’s around me.”
Cramer, 48, tells the story of her uncle, Horace Autenrieth, driving her to an appointment in Salem. “My uncle has a new GPS system. If you turn the wrong way, it says ‘recalculating’,” Cramer said. Now she’s recalculating, too. “My first round of treatment didn’t work, so now we are going in a different direction. Our destination is to achieve good health.”
The plan now calls for a mini-stem cell transplant, she said. The date for the transplant is a “moving target,” she said. “We want to do it soon since my blood count looks good.”
Her brother, Richard Wallace, and sister, Tina Tau, are being tested to see if they can be donors. If they can’t, a search will be conducted for a donor.
“There are four kids in my family with two out of the four of us having cancer,” Cramer said. Her sister, Barbara Conde of Scotts Mills, has been battling metastatic breast cancer for 11 years. “She calls me every day and asks ‘How’s my warrior sister,’” Cramer said. “She reminds me that life with cancer is 99 percent regular life and one percent cancer. She reminds me to keep that balance and that is really helpful.”
Cancer has taught her to appreciate everything about life. “After turning 40, I was loving my life even more. I look at what’s hopeful and try to surround myself with people who are hopeful and positive.” Cramer attends classes at Silver Falls Yoga to help her gain physical strength, achieve spiritual growth and practice mediation.
She said her husband, Tim, has been “amazing and supportive.” Her oldest daughter, Gwen, a freshman at Green Mountain College in Vermont, keeps in touch by phone. “I was hoping this would be a fun year for her,” Cramer said.
She is thankful for the “amazing” support she has received from Principal Les Keele and the staff at Mark Twain.
Keele said, “She takes a positive approach to everything that comes her way. Her approach to this is no exception.”
School counselor Susan Downey said Cramer’s desk at school always had numerous quotes written in her “artistic and beautiful script” on bright sticky tabs. “Many of the quotes simply mirrored of the depth of her humanity, her acceptance of others and her healthy wishes for the world,” Downey said. “Other quotes were funny, zany wonderful things that kids said in her classroom. So, even the small creative clutter on her desk tells us softly who she is.”
As does a photograph taken of Cramer in Italy several years ago. In the photo, Downey said, Cramer is pretending to reach for an apple from a leafless, barren tree.
“Kathryn believes in the barren tree just like she believes in the possibilities for every adult or child she meets,” Downey said. “Kathryn is a master teacher who cleverly and creatively infuses art in everything she does with students. She is an intelligent, kind and gentle woman with an incredibly sweet and loving spirit.
Everyone feels valued and cared about in her presence. Our school community feels helping her is a gift because her grace and thankful attitude emanates from her very core.”
For the fundraiser, Cramer created a block print of an angel with stars in her hair. The angel is touching the moon. To create a block print, she carves the image, then rolls it with black ink and stamps it on paper.
“The image was reversed when I did the block print so it looks like the angel is stopping time,” she said.
“When I created it, it looked like the angel was pushing the moon along. Seeing it that way, took on a new meaning” – just as her life has taken on a different perspective.
When she is creating a piece of art, she plans it out, then reaches a point where she lets go and trusts the process. With her cancer, she realizes she doesn’t have “complete control with the direction the disease takes. I have to be flexible and trust in the different doctors and let the process flow and be accepting of what I can control and what I can’t.”
Being surrounded by friends and family brings her comfort and strength.
“I feel like my friends and even people I don’t know are my angels,” she said. “People want to help. I am grateful for that.”
