Angela Rae Stanley, the Ladybug Queen, fluttered away in the early hours of April 18th, surrounded by family and love, after an 11+ year battle with cancer. Her final days were filled with family/friends, laughter, and amazing food.
She was born on August 26th, 1982, in Dallas, TX, to Kent Burrow and Tonya Cowan. In 1988, she moved to the Smith River area, where she would spend the remainder of her life. She graduated from Del Norte High School in 2000, where she was active in drill, band, and leadership. She began working for the Elk Valley Rancheria in 2004 and loved it so much that she stayed for 20+ years, (until the very end). In 2008 she earned her associate in business and eventually rose to the role of Casino Controller, and “world’s best boss”.She met the love of her life, Matt Stanley, in high school, and married him on June 18th, 2005. They were blessed with three children: Tyler, Kailee, and Ian. Angela was many things, but if we could reduce her existence into a single greatest accomplishment, it would be Mother of the Millennium. There was nothing she loved more than her three kids, nothing she wouldn’t do for them, and heaven help you if you ever hurt one of them.While cancer took up so much of her time/energy, it never owned her. She was involved in what retrospectively would seem to be impossible, on top of being Super-Mom. She was the head of the library board, an active supporter of the school music program, involved in the Smith River School and Community, and helped build and support a business with her husband. She worked out and supported her favorite gym (GetRight). She went to (and shuttled kids to) every Aikido practice, band concert, track meet, and basketball game. She was an avid reader, involved in a book club, and with probably close to 500 novels in her library. She was a foodie who loved to travel and drink good wine. She loved to laugh, and (in the words of John Steinbeck) had a “habit of building laughter out of inadequate materials”. She was a “River Rat” to her core... there was nowhere she would rather be than with her toes in the water of the Smith River. She was never afraid to speak her mind or to stand up for those who couldn’t. She was courageous, unfiltered, and authentic; and a fierce friend. When she decided last year that getting a tattoo was on her bucket list and invited her closest ladies to join, about 16 joined her in getting ladybug tattoos and starting a “gang”. To this date, around 26 wear the mark. She brought together a group of people, some of whom began as strangers and now call each other sisters.Angela leaves behind her husband, Matt, and her children Tyler, Kailee, and Ian. She’s also survived by her parents Kent and Becky Burrow, sisters Alysia and Malina, brothers Donald and Timmy, sisters-in-law Lori and Alex, brothers-in-law Aaron, Jamie, and Matt, her parent-in-laws Diana and Bryan, nephews Michael, Nikolai, Elias, James and River, and nieces Adriana and Summer.Angela was the first recipient and inspiration for the “Ladybug Leadership Award” through True North, where she was a parent leader on the Education Local Organizing Committee for almost 10 years. A bench will also be dedicated to her on Pebble Beach off Hemlock (which shall henceforth be known as “Ladybug Landing”), and an endowment fund has been started in her memory (donations can be made online at https://donorbox.org/angela-stanley-memorial-fund. She will also have a headstone in Crescent City Cemetery should you wish to visit.She was a force. She brought out the best in all of us. She made the world a better place, and that’s what she’d want us all to do. Her friends and family have adopted a new motto in the past weeks: WWAD “What would Angela do?”So please, make time for the things that matter. Read that book. Plan that sister's trip. Drag your family to Hawaii. Take a stand. Donate your time to a cause that is dear to your heart. Laugh, and love… a LOT. And for goodness sake, wear your sunscreen.
Special thanks to the Elk Valley Rancheria for their incredible generosity and for treating Angela like family; to Angela’s Ladybugs for their unwavering love and support, and the endless love, prayers, good thoughts, and donations that Angela and her family have received and continue to receive.