Last Sunday Bev said she wanted to drive up to Lodi to see Kathy.  She said that she was afraid she’d never see her again unless we took this opportunity.  Kathy was in intensive care suffering from the effects of both pneumonia and cancer.  She had been struggling with cancer for years, cancer caused by her long cigarette use. 

It was a good thing that we made the drive.  They removed the respirator on Monday evening.  By 2:00 Tuesday morning Kathy had left this life and gone to the next.  Of the two events, seeing Kathy alive and suffering and learning of her death, seeing her alive was the most painful.  Now that struggle is over.

Kathy was blind, absent her voice box, and not rich.  But having known her I can say that she had great vision.  She could tell from a tone of voice how someone was feeling.  She was gifted in her knowledge of how to deal with people. 

Her mechanical voice, though sometime hard to understand, was still a lovely sound.  With it she told us jokes and spoke about her life.  And though she was poor, she made all of us richer by knowing her.

I will miss Kathy.  She made this world a better place.  But I am grateful that she no longer has to struggle to breathe and be seeing her new world in technicolor.