At age 33, Diane Whipple managed to complete her first marathon in the top 30. Two weeks later, she was dead.

Whipple was an avid athlete, a former member of the U.S. Lacrosse team and two-time member of the World Cup Soccer Team. She even came close to qualifying for the 1996 Olympic track team.

In October 1999, she left her job as a prep school coach and signed on as women's lacrosse team coach at St. Mary's College, a small Catholic school in Moraga, Calif.

Whipple and Smith

"She was about being true to yourself, and my courage stems from the life we lived together," her partner, Sharon Smith, told the San Francisco Examiner.

Whipple grew up in Manhasset, N.Y., and was a star high school athlete. She won a scholarship to Penn State for lacrosse, and led the school to two national titles. She was named the university's top female athlete and the NCAA female Athlete of the Year.

After college, Whipple moved to California to pursue making the Olympic team and decided to remain in the San Francisco area once she began her coaching career.

Whipple's death not only left a mark on her students who admired her, but has had a ripple effect on the national gay community.

Wrongful Death Suit

Following her death, Whipple's lesbian lover of seven years filed a wrongful death suit against Noel and Knoller as well as Rudolph and Annette Koppl, the owners of the apartment building, for failing to take measures to protect the building's residents from the dangerous canines.

Smith has said any proceeds from the suit would go to a foundation she set up in Whipple's name to benefit female lacrosse players.

Whipple's mother, Edythe Whipple-Kelly, filed her own wrongful death suit against Noel and Knoller in April, but said she may fuse her suit with Smith's. She also pledged her support for her daughter's surviving partner.

Edythe Whipple-Kelly

But the suit brought by Sharon Smith raised larger legal issues, since domestic partners do not have the right to bring wrongful death suits as spouses would. Current law allows only legal heirs, such as surviving spouses, children and parents to sue.

Noel and Knoller filed a typewritten motion from prison, asking that the suit be thrown out. Calling it a fraud and a sham, they said that as her lesbian lover Smith had no right to bring a wrongful death claim.

Ironically, Schneider and Bretches also filed their own motion — arguing that they should have been named as defendants in the case but weren't. In essence a demand to be sued by Smith, the motion states that as Bane's legal owners, they wanted the opportunity to defend the dogs.

Smith is named in Whipple's will, giving her a legal leg to stand on, but she took her cause one step farther.

New Law for New Rights

Sharon Smith

She testified before an Assembly Judiciary Committee on behalf of Carol Migden, a Democrat who sponsored a bill giving gay and lesbian partners the right to sue for wrongful death. It would also grant other rights normally afforded to legally married couples, such as using sick leave to care for a partner and making medical decisions.

The bill was approved and was passed into law in October 2001 by Governor Gray Davis.

California Governor Gray Davis

The big victory for gay rights advocates, however, came in July, when Superior Court Judge A. James Robertson refused to dismiss the case on the premise that lesbians couples are not recognized under state law.

Robertson ruled that Smith had the right to sue under the state constitution, a decision that garnered national attention as a landmark legal ruling.

Next: Part VI — The supporting cast