By Jennifer McBride

The Los Gatos community is mourning a dear friend. Tami Olvera lost her battle with breast cancer when she died on Feb. 14, surrounded by her husband Humberto, her 6-year old son, her 2-year-old daughter, her parents and her siblings.

Tami and Humberto owned and operated Blvd. Coffee, 15466 Los Gatos Blvd., for several years and have been friends to the community for much longer.

"She's just an incredible person. I feel lucky to have her in my life," said customer Corrie Freiley when the Los Gatos Weekly-Times did a story on her back in June. Freiley has known the Olveras for nearly a decade.

Tami was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2003 when she was pregnant with her daughter. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation and had a mastectomy. Unfortunately, the cancer was unresponsive, so the family sent her to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Tulsa, Okla. The staff recommended she try an alternative radiation treatment they believed would reduce her constant pain and possibly extend her life up to 18 months. Tami said she wanted to live long enough for her baby daughter to remember her.

Laura Lowell, a close friend of Tami's, says the alternative treatments did improve her quality of life, at least for a while.

"December and early January were fantastic. She felt better, she went Christmas shopping, she took her daughter to pre-school--it was great," she says. "We found out it did shrink one of the tumors, which I think is what made her have such a terrific six or seven weeks."

Then, in mid-January, Tami developed an infection and was admitted to the hospital.

"She had gone through so much. She was never fully able to regain her strength," Lowell says.

Friends and family said a tearful goodbye to Tami in a rosary on Feb. 16 and a memorial service at the Los Gatos Christian Church on Feb. 17.

"Tami created such a community. My closest friends are people Tami introduced me to or people I know because of her and the coffee shop. The impact she had on all of our lives just by pulling us all together, that was just the kind of person she was. She was an anchor, the center of all things people just flocked to. All of us are better just for having known her and loved her and having had her as part of our lives," says Lowell.

Lowell says Tami was incredibly touched by how much the community showed its support for her and her family.

"Tami just wanted the community to know how much it meant to her to have Los Gatos rally and support her the way they did," she says.

Donations can be made to the Tami Olvera Fund, c/o The Los Gatos Community Foundation Inc., P.O. Box 1089, Los Gatos, CA 95031.