Jim Varagona

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Kelly Smith-Russo passed away on Saturday, November 19. I worked with her for a short period of time in the electronics department at Target #0051 on Hampton and Chippewa in St. Louis City.

Kelly passed away from pneumonia while she was waiting for a bone marrow transplant. She was 20 years old. I don’t claim to be a good friend of hers, but we talked whenever I saw her at work. I knew she was sick from her leukemia at times, and I tried my best to do my part keeping her in good spirits. It’s not good hearing about a death, but it’s multitudes worse when it’s someone young. I know this because I watched my brother die from a horrible disease at the age of 14 in 2000.

It sounds cliche (and there’s a lot of cliche used during these times), but she’s not in pain now. She can rest in a better place. My sympathies go out to her family. She was a fun girl, which knowing what she was going through, made her an even more amazing person.