Then Henderson turned and looked a few rows down and found another familiar name: Sheri Garmon, her friend and fellow activist who brought national attention to the plight of Idaho's downwinders before succumbing to cancer herself in September 2005.
"She wouldn't have necessarily been dead if we had listened to what Paul Cooper had said in 1977," a tearful Henderson said.
On Saturday, she and dozens of other Idaho downwinders gathered at the Idaho Historical Museum to share their stories and to try to make sure the past's lessons aren't forgotten as the U.S. government pushes to test new weapons at the Nevada Test Site.
The conference of downwinders marked the 56th anniversary of nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site, whose fallout has been linked to cancer and other illnesses in thousands of Americans living downwind of the site.
Twenty-one counties in Utah, Nevada and Arizona are covered by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which makes cancer victims and their survivors from those counties eligible for $50,000 in "compassionate payments."
Four Idaho counties were among the top five counties in the country for fallout from radioactive iodine-131, according to a 1997 National Cancer Institute study. Iodine-131 can cause thyroid cancer.
The 50 people who gathered Saturday also came to voice their opposition to the Divine Strake test — what many fear is the beginning of another round of nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site. The U.S. government wants to test a 700-ton underground explosive later this year that would reportedly be able to destroy underground military compounds.
But activists fear Divine Strake could send fallout still lingering at the site back into the air.
"We are not going to allow another generation of us to be created," Truman said.
A public meeting in Boise about Divine Strake is set for today.
On Saturday, Gov. Butch Otter issued a proclamation designating Saturday as Downwinders Day of Remembrance.
Those attending Saturday's event said they are hopeful they will see support for their cause from local and state officials.
Boise's Charlie Smith, an activist for awareness about the environmental causes of cancer, funded the conference. Her son Trevor, 17, was diagnosed with a medulablastoma brain tumor on Nov. 15, 2002 when the family was living in McCall.
Through her own research, Smith is convinced that her son's cancer could have been caused by cyanide mining or even fallout from the Hanford Site nuclear reactors.
Contact reporter Hilary Costa at hcosta@idahostatesman.comor 672-6730.
