Kathleen Kae McFarlin

Wednesday Sept. 3, 2008, Kathleen Kae McFarlin, 55, left this world, but not our lives. Her journey with leukemia, filled with hope, grace and love of life, tended with skill, vigilance and compassion has ended quietly.

Kathy was born May 15, 1953, in Aledo, Ill. Daughter of Bill and Marilyn Knox, sister of Debbie Batey, Kevin Knox, Kelly Manning, wife of Bret, mother of Jason, Shawn, Che, grandmother of Elise, Aubrey, Egan, godmother of Nona, aunt of Cody, Jordan, Mason, Zachary, Danny, Kalie, Shanti, Joe, Nick and Abby.

As nurse, musician, hippie, bicyclist, scuba diver, world traveler, baker, gardener, bird lover, dinner and party host, and community activist Kathy came to love few things more than speaking truth to power, except perhaps a new adventure. Quick to journey, always happy to return home.

Kathy was literally born a saint, a Reorganized Latter Day Saint (RLDS), now Community of Christ, where she found and felt every truth in the story of Christ. Fearless and unwavering, she grew to seek the broadest expressions of transcendence underlying all beliefs, simply disregarding the pernicious illusion that we are in any way separate from one another.

For more, see our Sept. 5 print edition.