I am standing on the seashore

A ship spreads her sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean

I stand watching her until she fades on the horizon

Someone at my side says “She is gone!”

Gone where? The loss of sight is in me, not in her.

Just at that moment when someone says “She is gone”

There are others who are watching her coming.

Other voices take up the glad shout,

“Here she comes!” 

Catherine Louise Jenkins (Katsy) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 29 1935 to Victor and Louise Adams. Katsy was the younger sister to Mary Ann. She shared many happy childhood memories of time spent with grandparents and other extended family who lived nearby. As a small child she knew that she wanted to wear white and help others. She entered the nursing profession in 1956, graduating from St. Vincent Infirmary and School of Nursing. Her nursing experience spanned from cradle to grave and included labor and delivery, psychiatric, caring for young veterans with spinal cord injuries, and flight nursing. She finished her career as a head nurse in geriatric nursing at Truman East where she found her passion and was much loved by staff, patients, and their families.

She moved to the Kansas City area in 1959 and devoted herself to her family. Widowed in 1972, Katsy finished raising three children on her own as a single parent in Independence. In 1978 Katsy moved to Lee’s Summit as one of the early settlers of the Lakewood community. On a summer evening in 1981 while enjoying a lake sunset with her daughter Laura, she called out a greeting to the handsome new neighbor with whom she’d developed a friendship. This friendship became love, and Bud and Katsy were wed in 1984. When they married, Bud gave her a globe and promised her the world. They embarked on a honeymoon trip around the world including stays in Tahiti, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Bangkok, India, Egypt, and Europe. This was one of many trips they took together and with cherished friends. Katsy and Bud most enjoyed their annual fall trips to Emerald Isle, North Carolina.

Katsy was a talented seamstress and needle artist, learning to sew at the knee of an aunt. She designed many custom matching outfits for Ellen and Laura, which they came to appreciate more as adults than they had as little girls. She took up many different crafts over the years, mastering each before moving to the next. She finished her love of crafts where she began her nursing career – with babies. With great precision and attention to detail, she created lifelike newborn dolls. Sadly, this was the last craft she was able to do, as her vision began to decline.

Katsy was known for her personal style and creative flair, and was always perfectly put together from head to toe. Her creativity extended to her entertaining, as anyone who was a guest in her home can attest. Her rooms and tables were styled in perfect accordance with the season or holiday. She was a skilled cook and could whip up a gourmet meal as easily as a kick ass meatloaf. Meals were more than food – they were a dining experience! In her last days, with her children gathered at her bedside, she imparted a step by step recipe for the perfect pot roast. If she were with us today, she would want you all to know the simple secret to great cooking: “Use more butter.”

Katsy adored being a grandmother. To her grandchildren, she was known as Obbie. She passed along humor, resilience, and many important lessons for life. From one of her grandsons: ”I learned so much from my grandma. She made sure to stick around until she saw her grandsons grow up to become fine young men. She taught me little things like opening doors for people, and that medium rare is the only way to order a steak. She taught us all how to swim. She taught me table manners, how to tip wait staff, and to speak to them with respect. She exuded class and was the toughest woman I ever knew. She was a nurse, and taught me valuable lessons about treating patients, and to never give up through school when it gets hard. Even in her last days she still taught me by letting me care for her at the bedside. I wouldn't be who I am today without her. Grandmas make the world a better place, and I owe it to her to become the man she knew I could be.”

On 6/7/19 Katsy walked on from this world into the next world peaceful and without fear. In her own words: “I have had a wonderful life and a long one and I am not afraid to die.” She was preceded in death by her husband Bud. She leaves her children Ellen, Mike, and Laura; Bud’s children Sally, Tom, and Genie; she was a grandmother to eleven grandchildren (Luke, Dylan, Garrett, Richard, Ellen, Tucker, Hunter, Carly, Adam, Grant, and Tommy). She leaves behind her beloved companion dog Joe. She will be missed by many friends and by cherished neighbors past and present.

Graveside service will be held at Leavenworth National Cemetery on Friday June 14, 2019 at 10am.