Beloved Wife, Mother and Sister
Christy was born April 5, 1958 and grew up on a lake in Southeast Michigan. Following High School, she attended Northern Michigan University for her undergraduate degree and then Medical School at Michigan State University. After her residency she settled in Bellevue, WA to raise her family and start her practice as a plastic surgeon. She loved combining her passion for medicine with her artistic talents in the operating room, and was able to touch and change the lives of thousands of people throughout the nearly 30 years she spent as a surgeon.
Her devotion to her patients and her medical career was surpassed only by the boundless love she shared for her family. She leaves behind Rick VanAuken, her devoted husband of 20 years; her pride and joy of seven children: Kimberly (Adam), Ashley, Kelly (Casey), Daniel (Jamie), Erik (Hayley), Jacob, Zachary, her stepdaughter, Sara (Russell), and her 10 grandchildren who were the light in her life – Kaleb, Kasen, Livy, Blake, Joshua, Regan, Christopher, Mark, Mika and Skylar; her beloved sister, Nancy, and brother, Erik. She was preceded in death by her father, Everett Nygaard, her mother, Shelley Wahl Nygaard and her brother, David Nygaard.
Christy was a beautiful force in this world with a passion for life. Her charismatic personality and abundant compassion naturally drew in those around her. She was loved and treasured by those who knew her. She lived a life full of hard work, adventure and devotion to family, and leaves behind countless footprints in the sand. She will be desperately missed by all who knew her.
“And so there comes a time when each of us
Must reach the end of lifesong
And journey on alone -
Leaving in our wake
A sad and empty void
But as with all ships
The departure from the harbor
Is never the end of the journey -
But instead
A new beginning
For no ending is ever final.
We’ll think back on you gently,
For you take with you
A bit of beauty
That the world is not to know again.
And now,
Unfurl your sail,
And run the wind”
Godspeed, our dearest Christy,
Godspeed
A celebration of life is to be scheduled for a later date
(Stanzas taken from poem written by Christy for her Grandmother’s passing in 1982)
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