Obituary of Sylvia Denice Brumage

Sylvia Denice Brumage On the evening of Tuesday, August 6, 2013, Sylvia passed away of natural causes at her home in Tigard, OR. She was forty nine years old. Sylvia was born in the city of Denver, CO at 6:03PM on January 21, 1964. She was the eldest of two children born to Terrye Elaine Moore and Darrell Dent Brumage. Sylvia spent her first few years of life in Colorado. She resided briefly in the Philippines and then moved to Arizona, remaining there until adult hood. Sylvia attended Mesa High School, where she was active in Drama, German Club, and loved playing Dungeons and Dragons with her close friends. After high school she married Claude B. Beggs and moved to California where she gave birth to her daughter, the first of three children. In 1983 Sylvia and her family moved to Colorado, where she gave birth to her first son. After a year and a half in Colorado Springs, Sylvia and her family returned to Arizona. She gained an enormous amount of satisfaction and purpose in going to work as a Clerk of the Superior Court in 1985. Sylvia was divorced from Claude in 1986. Sylvia was very active at this time in the Society for Creative Anachronism. She also became very focused on her spirituality, which grew in leaps and bounds. In 1989 Sylvia had her second son. Sylvia won several awards for excellence at her job but was forced to resign in 1995 due to her escalating battle with mental illness. In 2001 she found a great passion in helping others. Sylvia became a public speaker and advocate for the mentally ill. In 2005 Sylvia followed her family to Oregon. She attended Portland Community College for both philosophy and business. She achieved a place on the Dean's list and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa. Sylvia continued to develop her public speaking abilities by connecting with the non-profit National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. She was trained as a peer support specialist and spoke for NAMI on a regular basis. Her involvement was an incredible source of pride for her and fulfilled her motto: "Be the change you wish to see in the world.". In 2013 she was able to go see her life long hero, the Dali Lama. In the last year of her life, Sylvia suffered increasingly from physical aliments. For this reason she was forced to scale back her involvement with NAMI. However, she was still able to touch countless lives with her courage and beautiful spirit. Throughout her life Sylvia dwelled in a very solid faith. She was an accomplished artist, writer, and poet. Her strength and her ability to use her suffering to help others was an inspiration to everyone around her. Sylvia was proceeded by her mother Terrye Elaine Moore and her father Darrell Dent Brumage. Sylvia is survived by her younger brother Scott Brumage, her ex-husband Claude B. Beggs, her three children Juliet A. Oglesbee, Eric S. Beggs, and Douglas E. Parks, and her four grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will be held in honor of Sylvia. Anyone wishing to attend this memorial service may contact the family at subminky@yahoo.com for more information. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. -Dr. MLK Jr.