October 07, 1958 - October 08, 2015

Kathy Rose Reich (Handy) passed away peacefully just after sunrise on Thursday, October 8th, at 57 years old. After many years of battling end stage renal failure, her body let her know it was time to move on to the next life. She passed away at Kindred Hospital in Seattle, after spending the birthday with her family. Kathy was born and raised in Sunnyside, Washington and spent most of her life between there and Yakima, Washington. Her family recalls that she loved to take home stray cats as a child, a trait passed on to both her children. Kathy loved all animals. A favorite family story from her adulthood is when they owned 4 different animals at once in a small, two bedroom apartment—a rat, an iguana, a bird, and a cat. Kathy also loved to cook and was known for her fun, inventive recipes using fresh ingredients grown in her garden. She also loved to bake and made her daughter’s wedding cake. For most of her working life she was a professional house cleaner. Kathy was known for her wit and big smile that could light up a room. One of her best friends remembers her easy going personality and how she was happy doing anything as long as she could do it with a cup of coffee in her hand. Shortly before her death, Kathy moved to Puyallup and then Orting, Washington. This gave her a chance to spend time with family, including her children and to be near the ocean, which was her favorite place to get away. Even as her disease progressed, she was a fighter and never gave up, many times amazing the doctors by her strength and tenacity. Kathy is survived by her children, Amy and Travis Ferguson, as well as her mother, Rose Marie, her four sisters: Sherry, Lynne, Janine, and Elise, and many other family members.

FUNERAL INFORMATION

Private services will be held for her family members.

DONATIONS

If you would like to make a donation to honor Kathy, please consider making a donation to: ARF of Everett, PO Box 12817, Everett, WA 98201.

Memorial

Just as the Wave Cannot Exist

Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me. It is an uncomfortable doctrine which the true ethics whisper into my ear. You are happy, they say; therefore you are called upon to give much.

Albert Schweitzer

Miss Me, But Let Me Go

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me,
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room,
Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little-but not too long,
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared.
Miss me-but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take,
And each must go alone.
It is all a part of the Master's plan,
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick of heart,
Go to the friends we know,
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.
Miss me-but let me go.

Author Unknown