TORRINGTON – There wasn’t a dry eye left in the room after guest speaker Becky Volmer finished the slide show in memory of her daughter, Crickett, on Monday evening at Eastern Wyoming College. Becky was introduced by Community and Professional Relations Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank, Ryea’ O’Neill, as part of the Circle of Light – Photo Project exhibit. 

“The Circle of Light Photo Project is a collection of photographs taken by people whose sight was restored through cornea transplants. The project educates the public about the impact eye tissue donation has on the lives of those in our communities,” the organization explained. 

O’Neill is part of a crew of professionals who educates hospital staff on how to preserve corneas and other valuable ocular tissues after a patient is declared deceased. 

“The cornea is the clear, front part of the eye where a contact lens would sit. The cornea is responsible for 75 percent of the focusing power of the eye. Diseases or trauma to the cornea account for about 12% of all blindness in the United States, and it is the second leading type of blindness worldwide,” the organization explained. “The cornea has five layers. All or just certain layers can be replaced with a cornea transplant. The cornea does not have a direct blood supply, meaning blood typing is not a concern in cornea transplants.”

As advancements continue in the healthcare industry, O’Neill and her crew strive to bring attention to a becoming a donor and in part of the organization’s mission, Becky shared the life and death of her only daughter. 

“Jay and I got married years ago and knew right away that we wanted to start a family. After trying for almost three years, we were blessed with our son, Buster and 15 months later, in 1995, we had our beautiful daughter, Crickett Ann Volmer, a healthy seven-pound, half-ounce baby girl,” Becky began. “Our family was complete. I was very blessed to be a stay-at-home mom when the kids were little and Crickett, from the beginning, was all about family and home life. She was an old soul in a young body.”

According to Becky, Crickett developed motherly instincts and she tended to her dolls and animals. 

“We knew she was destined to be a wife and mother to many kids when she grew up,” Becky explained. 

Becky further explained Crickett enjoyed music and she began piano lessons in elementary school and took them until she graduated from high school. 

“Her goal was to be able to play Fur Elise by Beethoven by the time she graduated. I’m proud to report she did just that,” Becky said. “In second grade, Crickett was transferred to the big school of Tongue River, where she was a student through sixth grade. During this time, she continued to excel in academics as well as growing into herself as a loving, caring person.”

At the end of Crickett’s sixth grade year, the family moved to Australia where the young girl struggled being away from her home in Wyoming and the family she had left there. 

“She missed everyone deeply and I remember her telling me she was going to call her Grandpa Joe and have him take money out of her savings to buy a plane ticket back to Wyoming. She even went as far as packing her suitcase and was ready to head home but it was 50 miles to get to the highway so she didn’t make it too far,” Becky recalled. 

“When Crickett hit high school, we enrolled her back in Wyoming through Fort Washakie for freshman and sophomore year’s, which she was able to complete from a distance. Crickett stayed busy while in Australia,” Becky explained. “She would often times put in a day’s worth of work to come home and do schoolwork. In the afternoon, she could be found in the cookhouse helping me prepare food for the crew or out on the station helping her dad and the crew do cattle work. She became quite a hand and loved the life.”

The family moved back to the United States before the start of Crickett’s junior year and she graduated from Southeast High School in Yoder. Crickett excelled in FFA and FCCLA and was prom royalty. Crickett challenged herself and got good grades Becky recalled.

“When she graduated from high school, she told us she was going to take herself to Ireland when she graduated from college. Although she was younger than her brother, she was fiercely protective of him. If someone did him wrong, she wrote them out of her book of life. Now, on the other hand, if they did her wrong, she forgave them and then would buy them lunch,” Becky said noting Crickett would often buy anyone who needed it, a meal. “Giving was just who Crickett was.”

“Crickett always knew that her lifelong occupation would be something where she could care for others. She just didn’t know what that would be. As she got older, she found her passion in the medical field and was able to go to Camp Med at the Torrington Hospital,” Becky explained. “At that point, she was betwixt in between physical therapy and pharmacy. She ultimately decided on pharmacy, quite honestly, because it was less school and it was only six years instead of eight.” 

Crickett completed her internship with Community Drug in Torrington where she decided her ultimate goal was to own a community pharmacy so she could have a one-on-one relationship with her clients, Becky recalled. 

“We teased her a lot that she would be the crazy pharmacist with a freezer full of casseroles to take to her sick customers,” Becky said. “And she would have.”

“She started her career at Eastern Wyoming College and went as far as she could before transferring to LCCC and the University of Wyoming. In spring of her sophomore year, she took the entrance exam and went through the interview process with the University of Wyoming Pharmacy School,” Becky said. “She got accepted. Her dreams were coming true.”

Becky noted Crickett chose not to walk for her associate’s degree. 

“Instead, she wanted to have a big party and everyone to be there when she got her doctorate. She was excited about wearing a floppy hat,” Becky explained. “Crickett put 110% into pharmacy school and worked part-time jobs while she was in school. She went rive and half year’s without taking out one school loan. She was a thrifty, hard-working young lady.”

“We feel blessed by her handwritten notes that we still have and the Facebook memories that pop up. We feel blessed by her,” Becky said. “In 2018, Crickett was blessed with another dream to come true. She met the love of her life, Chas Everitt, a rangeland firefighter. Chas completed Crickett and they showed each other unconditional love.”

According to Becky, Crickett had convinced Chas to have six children, even though he didn’t want any to begin with.

“They had so many plans, hopes and dreams. None of us knew the ball of life was setting into motion,” Becky said. “On March 1, 2019, Crickett called me at work and she told me she had a really bad stomachache during her four-hour therapeutics class.”

Becky urged Crickett to seek medical attention.

“She went to the walk-in clinic and ultimately ended up in the in the Laramie Hospital with appendicitis. She was slated to have surgery Saturday morning,” Becky said. “This is normal, very routine surgery and I thought this was something she and Chas would handle together. However, God kept speaking to me and telling me to live with no regrets so I listened to God and was there when she got out of surgery.”

“They kept her overnight after surgery saying was the largest appendix they’d ever removed. Crickett, being a pharmacy student was very interested in the meds they were giving her, one of which was a shot of blood thinner,” Becky said. “She even asked if she needed another one before they sent her home and they told her no, she didn’t need another one as normally they never even give them to outpatient surgeries.”

Crickett went home with her dogs to study with Chas by her side. 

“On the morning of March 5, a Tuesday, she woke up and told Chas she wasn’t feeling real well. He ultimately called the ambulance and they transported her to the hospital where she passed away very quickly from a pulmonary embolism,” Becky said. “Crickett’s philosophy in life was to go big or go home and that’s ultimately how she lived until the very end, passing away from not just blood clot but multiple clots.” 

“I thank God every day that Chas was there for her until the end. She knew she was loved and didn’t have to die alone,” Becky said. “Because of her loving and generous spirit, we immediately approved the gift of donations when asked by the medical staff upon her passing, we knew that was exactly what Crickett would want.”

Crickett left behind so many hopes and dreams. 

“If you remember, I told you when Crickett graduated from pharmacy school, she as going to take herself to Ireland. By this time, however, she had invited Chas along,” Becky said with tears in her eyes. “Well, the letter said that they had looked all over the Rocky Mountain region, as well as the United States, for her recipients, but couldn’t find a match.”

“Crickett’s cornea went to a young boy in Ireland,” Becky said. “Because of her giving spirit and the wondering eye bank and the Lions Club support, she was able to see Ireland just as she had planned. We continue to honor Crickett’s legacy by living with no regrets as she lived her life.”

Becky and Jay were able to visit Ireland in the spring of 2022 and they shared Crickett’s story with the people they met and scattered her ashes in some of the most beautiful places. The family also established an endowed scholarship at the University of Wyoming in her name for future pharmacy students. 

“On the day she passed away, I remember talking to her brother and I was telling him how unfair it was she’d gone, that she was gone, that she hasn’t gotten to live life and she’d spent her last 18 years in school,” Becky tearfully recalled. “He reminded me that she had lived. It was true. She had done more in those 23 years than I’d done in my 46 years. She had lived with no regrets. As her parents and fiancé, we had taken on the role where she left off, living life to the fullest and trying to be kind and loving people like she was.”

“I encourage each of you here to take time to look at the beautiful photos outside, taken by cornea recipients, who because of someone’s unselfishness were granted the beautiful gift of sight,” Becky said. “I hope you will go home and have a conversation with your family and consider being an organ and tissue donor as you too have the ability to change someone’s life as Crickett did with your unselfish gifts. In addition, I hope each and every one of you will leave today and live life to the fullest. Make an impact here on earth. Life with no regrets.”

For more information on how to become an organ and tissue donor, please visit DonateLifeWyoming.org.