Cookie Kliever, 64

WORTON, Md. - Cookie Kliever, of Worton, peacefully passed away Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at Chester River Hospital Center, Chestertown, from complications from colon cancer. She was 64.

Born Jan. 15, 1944, as Virginia Allen Harper, she will be remembered as "Cookie" after the Philadelphia pub which her parents frequented, including the night of her conception.

She was the daughter of the late Richard M.H. Harper Jr. and the late Anne Bullivant Steere.

Cookie was a 1962 graduate of Beaver Country Day School and received a degree from Pine Manor College in 1964. Both schools are located near her hometown of Milton, Mass.

Cookie and her lifetime friend, Wende Kernan Kromer, adventured to Palo Alto, Calif., after her graduation from Pine Manor.

She worked as a librarian at Stanford Law School and later as an assistant to a professor at the Stanford Medical School.

She met Doug, her husband of 42 years, at the law school. They were married on June 18, 1966, and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1967.

Before settling full time in December 2005 at their house in Worton, Swallow Point, which Doug and Cookie acquired in 1978, Cookie worked as a real estate agent, house renovator and the director of admissions at Capital Hill Day School.

Throughout the 30 years of dual D.C. and Kent County residency, Cookie pursued her love of arts and crafts, including painting, quilting, needlepoint, photography and, finally, the art of designing and making jewelry by the precious metals clay method. She was among the first artists in the mid-Atlantic states to be certified as a PMC instructor and introduced many others to the art. Cookie was one of the founders and the first president of the regional PMC Guild. She was a prolific designer and producer of unique, innovative PMC jewelry.

Cookie also delighted in introducing her grandchildren, Alex and Cameron, to the arts and crafts.

She loved horses and established Mattakees Farm in 1990. Cookie had show jumpers, driving horses, event horses and just plain pets. One of her favorites, a plucky little driving horse aptly named True Grit, was diagnosed with untreatable cancer in the middle of a season in which he was leading the competition to represent the United States in the World Driving Championships in France.

And "true grit" is what Cookie showed when she was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. Knowing that advanced colon cancer cannot be cured but only controlled, she underwent three rounds of intensive chemotherapy, accompanied by periodic, sometimes serious, side effects with determination, perseverance and humor.

She did not limit herself to her own battle. Cookie empathized with other patients, imploring them to remember that there are no odds in cancer, that each case is unique and that beating this insidious disease requires belief that it can be controlled, force of will and the support and love of family and friends.

Each course of treatment drove the disease into remission for a period.

She was able to enjoy being a grandmother, an artist (with two trips full of camaraderie to the Tucson International Gem Show), a proud owner of a shiny new red HHR and a friend.

Ultimately, the disease bested Cookie, but it was not for lack of her positive spirit.

Cookie is survived by her stepfather, Bruce M. Steere; her husband, Doug; two sons, Eric and his wife Tracy Minter and Chris and his wife Lisa and their children Alex and Cameron; two brothers, Richard Harper and Stuart Harper; three sisters, Patricia Flint, Grace Steere and Lucy Steere; her faithful companion, Tilda; and her many friends who provided support, encouragement and prayers during her struggle.

A remembrance service will be 2 p.m. Aug. 1 at the Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, 130 Speer Road, Chestertown.

A celebration of Cookie's life will be held after the service.

Instead of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Oncology Foundation, 8221 Teal Drive, Suite 302, Easton, MD 02061.

The Foundation, of which Cookie's oncologist is a principal, promotes fundamental changes in public and medical policy to allow the development of a wider range of treatment options to be applied by oncologists in recognition of the fact that no cancer, including colon cancer, is a single disease and that cancer afflicts each individual differently.

Cookie firmly believed that such new approaches could extend and improve the quality of life of future cancer victims.