<div>Lauren loved Winter and cold weather and all things Christmas. On December 13, with the snow falling outside her windows, we held her hands as she passed away peacefully.
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<div>Looking around the room as I'm writing this, I see her presence everywhere. She leaves an enormous hole in our lives.
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<div><strong>In her name and memory, I promise to care for our son, always.</strong>
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<div>All donations from this fund will go directly to the continued care and education of Colin Foster Montgomery.
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<div>Lauren, you will be missed forever.
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<div>Love,
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<div>Mike and Colin
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<div>You are invited to come and share your stories at the <strong>Celebration of Life</strong> for Lauren: February 1, 2026
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<div>2-4pm at Southgate House Revival
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<div>111 East Sixth Street
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<div>Newport, KY 41071
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<div><strong>OBITUARY</strong>:
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<div>Lauren was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts (the country’s oldest commercial fishing port) on December 31, 1978 to Ronald and Marilyn Foster. She was descended, on her mother’s side, from a long line of fishermen, notably her great grandmother, the renowned ‘Fisherwoman of Gloucester’, and seemed destined, one would think, to continue the family’s rugged way of life. However, in 1980, against fate and constant lamentations from Marilyn, Ron relocated his young family to Sharonville, and Lauren spent the rest of her childhood dreaming of the sea in landlocked Ohio.
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<div>Lauren attended Princeton High School and went on to the University of Cincinnati where she majored in Biology. She graduated Summa Cum Laude and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Lauren was a devout learner with a tremendous intellect and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I witnessed her, on countless occasions, devour textbooks while essentially teaching herself chemistry and advanced mathematics. 
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<div>During college, Lauren worked as a laboratory courier and volunteered in the University Hospital’s Emergency Room. Upon graduation she took a job as a researcher in the Vontz Science Center working under the esteemed Dr. Wally Ip. The tumultuous landscape of the research laboratory funding-seeking process compelled her to set her sights elsewhere and she soon found her footing as a scientist at Proctor and Gamble. Cosmetics research proved not as fulfilling for her as medical research, so she joined the team at Children’s Hospital. Her work there piqued a broader interest in pharmaceutical development and she entered the world of clinical trials. Lauren spent the last ten-plus years as a clinical trial manager, mostly at ICON, where she was supported without measure by her peers and managers. She was fascinated by genealogy and was a member of the Cincinnati Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
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<div>Packed between these ‘blips’ on her timeline was a lifetime of living. Lauren LOVED to travel, and I was lucky enough to tag along on many of her trips. She was a meticulous planner, and her attention to detail really made the overwhelming feel effortless. She routed us on epic journeys - to Egypt, where we explored ancient ruins and got PADI-certified as advanced open water divers in the Red Sea;  Peru where we hiked the Inca Trail to the temple complex of Machu Picchu; to Guatemala where she studied Spanish and talked me into a four day trek through the rainforest to the archaeological site at Tikal; to Alaska where we rode out to the Arctic Ocean with the Inuit to see the enormous carcass of a whale, climbed glacial crevasses with ice axes, kayaked the waters off Seward, and tested our luck panning for gold and hiking along salmon-rich streams in bear territory in Denali. Fearless or insane – I never could tell, but for some reason I trusted her. The sheer power of her <em>Will</em> was undeniable, which makes her tragic early death so insanely incomprehensible to me.
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<div>We had our son Colin at the end of December 2019. He was her whole world. She was diagnosed with cancer in early 2021. She fought fiercely from day one, a journey that took our family across the country to countless appointments at hospitals and treatment centers from California to Boston and many cities in between. We met so many kind people and were supported generously beyond our dreams by a network of family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and beautifully kind strangers. It has been overwhelming to experience, and Colin and I will never forget it.
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<div>I promised Lauren that I would honor her by putting our son above all else as I continue to raise him. She and I are notoriously stubborn individuals who found it hard to accept help. This experience has humbled us, and I am glad for that - to recognize that we are surrounded by people who love us.
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<div>In her name and memory, I promise to care for our son, always.
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<div>Sometimes I think, ‘How is she not here?’, or, as Colin recently asked, “Why did she have to die?” 
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<div>I honestly don’t know the answer to either question. I see her slippers in the closet - her Boston Red Sox hat on a coat hook - a stray hair on a couch pillow - you can’t just snap your fingers and make a person’s whole life disappear. Lauren passed away in the midst of planning a future. She saw a life for our son where he would benefit from all her hard work. She dreamed of us traveling, working remotely as we introduced Colin to new countries and cultures. She was planning to give him <em>everything</em>. 
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<div>Her dreams were interrupted, but I can tell you what she <em>did</em> do for our son before her life was cut short. He inherited her love of maps, travel, the ocean, Massachusetts, cold weather, snow, and Christmas. There are attributes he got solely from me, like his beauty and his sense of humor, but his intellect – his passion for learning and his inexhaustible sense of curiosity are all Lauren. 
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<div>Through her battle with cancer, Colin learned empathy. He learned compassion. He learned resilience. He witnessed the kindness of strangers and felt the support of community. He was nurtured to thrive by a fierce woman in the depths of decline. He experienced love, unconditionally, and he learned to be brave.
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<div>For these memories and these lessons, Colin and I will be forever grateful.
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<div>Lauren, you will be missed forever.
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<div>Love
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<div>-	Mike and Colin 
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