By 1980 it was clear that my mother, one of world’s best secretaries, was having trouble finding words. I went to a local presentation called You and Your Aging Parent. As I described my mother’s behavior the woman sitting next to me said, “Your mother has Alzheimer’s, just like my mother.” A week later Mother’s doctor confirmed Alzheimer’s disease as her probable diagnosis. Within a year the woman who gave me the answer to my mother’s behavior, Lynn Blackwell, my husband and I, and several other community members were meeting regularly to share stories, support each other, and search for answers. We decided to organize officially and in 1983 we incorporated as the Alzheimer Society of Washington – (now known as Dementia Support Northwest). Over time we moved from our dining room into shared office space, and then eventually into our own office/gathering space but our mission did not change - to help people affected by dementia. We provided information and support. We changed our organization’s name to Dementia Support Northwest to reflect our learning that Alzheimer’s is only one of the many forms of dementia. Since 1980 I have volunteered for our organization in many different ways including support group leader, newsletter writer, advocate in Olympia to create a law to allow a hierarchy of family members to speak for a person who cannot speak for her/himself, conference organizer, director and board member. As many more people have become aware of dementia the need for our organization’s services has grown. We started The Good Friends Club – a four-day a week social respite care program. And, an even bigger change is coming. We just received a grant to enable us to open an office/gathering space in our local mall where we will be able to bring all of our services under one roof, make dementia more visible and provide more support to people affected by dementia.