Neighbor: Uncle's death inspires Cathleen Knight to head Oakley's Relay for Life

By Roni Gehlke
For the Contra Costa Times

Name: Cathleen Knight

Occupation: Real Estate agent for Intero Realty in Brentwood

Marital status/family: Knight lives in Oakley with her husband, Jeff, and 11-year-old son Dominic who is a fifth-grader at Vintage Park School.

Proudest civic achievement: Knight is currently the chair of the Oakley Relay For Life organization. Relay For Life is a nationwide effort that helps to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Knight was the co-chair for the Oakley group last year. She became involved with Relay For Life in 2004 after the death of her uncle.

"My uncle's death was the first time our family had ever faced cancer," Knight said.

The year her uncle died suddenly from complications related to skin cancer, Knight's family had been planning a special family cruise to celebrate her uncle and aunt's anniversary. The cruise was to take place in May of 2004. In December of 2003 her uncle became ill. He was gone by March 2004.

"It was very heartbreaking for our family," she said. "He went so quickly. It was obvious that he had had the cancer for a long time but didn't know it."

At the time of his death her uncle was working for a plumbing company in Vallejo and they had set up a team to participate in the Vallejo area Relay For Life and asked her and her family if they wanted to be part of the team. Knight jumped at the chance to get involved. Since then she has been involved in other teams and helped raise money for the worthy cause each year.

Knight's uncle had lived in Oakley at the time of his death, so when members of the Oakley community had started talking about setting up their own Relay For Life, Knight decided she wanted to be involved and volunteered to help take charge.

Future achievement: This weekend the second annual Oakley Relay For Life will take place. Last year the group learned a lot about running such an event and Knight took that knowledge and is working on making the 2010 Relay even better.

"One thing we learned is that it gets tough for people to stick it out after midnight," Knight explained.
The event takes place in a 24-hour period and teams walk around the Freedom High School track all day and all night long.

Knight has been working on getting more entertainment for the late hours of the Relay and making it more enjoyable for everyone. This year the Relay is bigger than last year, according to Knight. There are nearly 400 participants and a great many cancer survivors who are being honored.
"Facebook has really been a big help on getting people involved," Knight said.

Knight is extremely proud of all the teams participating in the event. One team that is participating in honoring Lucy Moyer, a Vintage Parkway Elementary School teacher who died last year of breast cancer. Moyer passed away in December, but before she died, she helped to organize a group of teachers and parents to form a team for the event. Knight said that the team has been doing so well it may turn out to be the biggest money earner.

Groups and organizations involved in: Through her work as a real estate agent, Knight is an active member of the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce.

Hobbies: Knight enjoys setting up events and activities. Over the years she has made a hobby out of putting together parties. "Anything really, from special occasions, weddings and birthday parties," she said.

She has gotten so involved that she decided to take a course to become a certified event planner. The skills learned have come in handy in setting up activities and decorating at the Relay For Life in Oakley.

What was the last book you read: Generally Knight said she enjoys self-motivational books. She also has read a lot of books and articles on real estate and event planning.

Favorite movie: Knight loves comedies and can't say which is her favorite. She says that she has watched "Dirty Dancing," starring the late actor Patrick Swayze and actress Jennifer Grey, several times and loves the ending of the movie.
— Roni Gehlke