Wendy Larks was born in April 1966 in Skokie, Illinois. She graduated from Niles North High School in 1984, and from Iowa University in 1988. Wendy was a licensed massage therapist, and most recently, worked as a flight attendant for United Airlines.

Wendy Larks had a beautiful soul. Her laugh and her smile touched everyone she met. She always had a joke ready to make someone smile, and you rarely saw her when she wasn't wearing one of her own. Wendy was an honest woman, who lived her life with integrity, and wouldn't stand for people not doing the same. She tried to give fullness to each day, and to rejoice in the beauty that surrounded her.

Wendy was diagnosed with breast cancer days before her 30th birthday, in April 1996. She battled the disease, and fought it into remission. In September 2000, metastases were found in Wendy's liver, and she began her battle anew.

Wendy did not win her battle against what she called her 'alien'. She was taken from us July 31, 2001, at the age of 35.

Early in July 2002, Wendy's family and loved ones gathered to discuss ways to honor her memory. They decided to form a public foundation to help those stricken with breast cancer, to help make people aware of the issues surrounding breast cancer, and to help find ways to prevent others from having to suffer what Wendy had suffered. In short, they wanted to form an organization to continue doing the work that was so important to Wendy.

The Wendy Larks Foundation was incorporated in July 2002 as a public corporation in the State of Illinois. Wendy's brother Michael Larks, Wendy's best friend Leslie Ann Sjodin, and Wendy's fiancee Lyle Deckowitz were the initial Directors. In October 2003, the Foundation added Wendy's friend Jill Gelb to the Board. Also in October, we received notice from the IRS that we had been given the ability to call ourselves a 501(c)(3) corporation, meaning that donations we receive may be tax-deductible to our contributors.

With the receipt of our tax-free status, we formally announced our formation, and have begun the effort to touch people's lives, as Wendy would have us do.