A young woman who survived a personally tough battle with breast cancer and wanted nothing more than to live on in order to dedicate her life to eradicating the disease has been selfishly taken from that precious life in a violent ending early this morning on a quiet street in the middle of what used to be a community golf course.
Denise Bohn Stewart was found dead in her own home in the 3100 block of Wyndwicke Drive south of St. Joseph early this morning, apparently discovered by one of her three children. Also found dead in the home was her estranged husband, Eric Stewart, an employee of Indiana Michigan Power Company in Bridgman.
The double tragedy has sent shock waves reverberating through the entire Mid-West Family Broadcast Group where she had been co-host of the Denise & Jonny in the Morning radio broadcast on 98.3 the Coast and anchor of WSJM Radio's Week in Review video newscast, as well as Bohn's colleagues at Susan G. Komen where she was Development Director for the Southwest Michigan Service Area.
Being a cancer survivor had become a badge of honor for Denise. As recently as 3pm Monday she had sent me an e-mail message saying, "Not a day goes by that I don't think about the fact I had breast cancer…not one single day…(even though I was diagnosed 8 years ago!)." She added, "That's probably because despite the fact you can beat the disease, it leaves behind scars, not only on your body but in your mind."
That message was part of a request from my friend to donate to the 20th Annual Race for the Cure in Kalamazoo. In that message, Denise said, "The reason I am so vocal and outspoken against this disease, is because of how it attacks…it does not discriminate. Age, Race, Gender, Smart, Healthy, Funny, Bright, Boring, Middle Class, Wealthy, Couch Potato, Making Ends Meet…cancer does not care. So we must!"
She had planned to run another triumphant race, knowing that 75-percent of the money raised that day would continue the fight against the disease that tried unsuccessfully to take her from us.
Denise actually began her illustrious broadcast career with our team at Mid-West Family Broadcasting back in the mid-90's shortly after graduating from Michigan State University in 1993, a school she was eternally dedicated to and an ardent cheerleader for. She had graduated MSU with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications.
She left the family fold in St. Joe to work for South Bend television with WSBT-TV from 2000 to 2014, where she became an award winning and well-respected news journalist. She returned to the fold to take on the dual role of co-hosting with Jonny Reinhardt at 98.3 The Coast, and as creator of the weekly video-on-demand project of the WSJM Week in Review Video Newscast. Denise & Jonny were just hitting their stride, and extremely popular with Coast listeners. The reveled in bringing fun to the morning show, and were rightfully proud of the amazing string of live phone conversations last year tracking the run of Josh Davis, runner-up to the winner of the TV competition, The Voice.
In her work with Susan G. Komen, Denise served on the Board of Directors, advancing to the role of Vice-President before joining the staff as Development Director for our area. She was relentless in her fundraising efforts with a multitude of events from the Pink Tie Ball to golf outings, races, give-back dinners, pub runs, and much more.
Just this morning representatives from Berrien County Cancer Service were due in the studio with Denise & Jonny to launch a spirited battle between the morning shows at our broadcast complex on Napier Avenue in Benton Harbor in the annual "Pennies for Patients" fundraiser that has become a tradition. She had vowed to emerge as the Penny Champion proving her fundraising prowess. She clearly had that championship already in hand, having been directly or indirectly responsible for tens of thousands of dollars for cancer research and assistance to cancer victims, survivors, families and more.
Denise had a great verve for life, was effervescent in her communications, loved being with family and friends, and so thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the classic rock groups Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids last Friday that she dispatched a new video snippet about every 15 minutes or so from the live show.
Even though she was indomitable in both her battle against cancer and her quest for the facts in elusive news puzzles, Denise was also an incredibly thoughtful person as she exhibited just a couple of weeks ago when she sang the praises of her mother, Connie Bohn in her Facebook post to her mom which said, in part, "She has taught me how to work hard and not to expect to get things handed to you in this life. When knocked down, she said get up and extended her hand. When goals were set and reached she was the first to celebrate. She has instilled in me the importance of friendship and fun…hence the reasons for some (many) sleepless nights." She concluded: "We don't get to choose our parents in life, thank God I got lucky with mine."
As you can well imagine, my friends and colleagues at WSJM are simply stunned and deeply saddened, and we will share more with you as it becomes available. RIP my friend…we loved you dearly.
