Kathleen Kay Allen

May 26, 1936 – August 10, 2014

Kathleen Kay Allen died Sunday August 10 in Seattle, Wash. She was 78.

Born May 26, 1936, in Heber City, Utah, Kathleen (Kathy) was the daughter of Lee Partington Kay and Leah Murdock Kay. In 1954 she graduated Wasatch High School in Heber City and earned her B.S. in nursing at Holy Cross Academy in Wichita, Kansas in the 1950s. Kathy married Donald Fredolin Allen from Valley Falls, Kansas, on December 16,1960.

Throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, Kathy worked as a nurse in East Alton, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Wichita, Kansas, where she was head nurse at Wesley Medical Center’s coronary care unit in the ‘70s. She moved to Seattle in 1977 with her husband Fred, her son Sam, and her daughter Deirdre, where she worked at numerous medical facilities, ultimately retiring as head nurse at the Boeing Plant in Kent, Washington. She was much lauded as a kind, compassionate and strong-willed nurse, caring deeply for her patients.

Kathy loved children and animals. When she detected arrogance, she would flatly tell people, “I’m fixin’ not to like you.” She fearlessly defended that which she believed to be right and was outspoken when she perceived wrongdoing. As an advocate for those less fortunate, she could be one’s best friend — or one’s fiercest enemy.

When Kathy was in the room, it was guaranteed to be fun. With a good-humored child-like spirit, she defined funny. The world was a happier place with her love of a good joke, her tenacity, her spirited nature, and that fuzzy head of hair she had.

She will be dearly missed by those who had the wonderful privilege to share their lives with this uniquely special soul.

Preceded in death by her husband, her parents and her siblings Virginia Rawley, Eloese Stireman, Carol Durant and Richard Kay, Kathy is survived by her stepson Donald Fredolin Allen, her son Samuel Kay Allen, her daughter Deirdre Allen Timmons; her nieces and nephews including Lee Ann Smith-Rawley, Alan Rawley, Kent Rawley, Scott Rawley, Adabel Allen, Susan Dickson, Jan Tingey, Lee Durant, Edward Durant, Charles Drrant, April Hochstrasser, Georgia Kay, Nataunya Kay, Steven Ruff and David Ruff; her grandchildren Mary Jane Tatoy, Christopher Allen, Kimberly Allen-Baldwin and Rosemary Elizabeth Timmons; her great grand-children River Baldwin and Christy Allen; her grand nieces including Angie Ahlemeyer and Wynne Smith; and her great- grand-nieces including Frances and Rachel Moody.

Private services will be held on September 28 in Seattle, WA. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that remembrances benefit the Alzheimer’s Association.