Marilee Kim Buckley passed April 30, 2025 to her well-deserved final reward in heaven.

She was followed everyday of her time here by a group that came to be known as Team Softly, our small group of family recognized her huge talent, contribution, skill level in anything she did, and love for those people that she loved. She was no stranger to hard work and in fact did it with dedication and joy and succeeded wildly in what she chose to do. As a young mother she was dedicated to raising her family well which she did involved in preschool, grade and high school and beyond; she chose good paths and guided skillfully. During this time, Kim attended University of Missouri Kansas City and graduated with her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications Studies in four years. She worked at the University of Health Sciences as Assistant Director of Publications. She spoke often of her association with Mr. James Ryan and also Mr. Walt Bodine who both taught her in college courses and included her in a great many discussion groups dealing with diverse topics. She was a Reiki Master, healer, and devotee of Native American tradition that reflected her birth on the South Dakota Prairie in what was Perkins, SD.

She was confirmed introvert and her values of integrity, devotion, quietness, peacefulness, nature, privacy, and truth we're all evident. Her favorite place anywhere outside the home was a place in nature. Her intuition guided her to well-founded conclusions quickly and she held them fiercely. We will miss her in ways untold.

She will be remembered in a private family ceremony soon. A public ceremony will be announced soon as well to celebrate her life with friends and family. Contact the family for details.

We, her family, are highly honored to be associated with this special person, poet, friend, intellect and observer of all things in our world. She will show up every day in everything we see and be remembered.

Kim is preceded in death by her father, Clifford Norman Strand, mother, Shirley Iris Strand, and grandmother, Mae De Roos Hornstra, grandfather Ernie Hornstra, and survived by her husband, Philip Buckley, Daughter Christine with husband Aaron Stump, and twin sons Carl Kristian and Eric Joseph, Brothers Martin Ernest Strand with spouse Joan and their children Michelle and Chris and families, Nels Clifford Strand, and Norman Robert Strand and family.

Contributions to the Breast Cancer Society in her name are welcome.