I met Kim, oh, about 1978 when we both worked at Burdett Apparel. She was funny and talkative, kindhearted and as I found out, extremely clumsy. Which seemed in opposition to her personality, which was quite steady. At that time she was still married to her first husband, Paul, and had one lovely little girl named Ruth Ann. Shortly after we met, she and Paul separated and she moved into an apartment right across the street from Burdett's. My partner would drop me off in the morning on his way to work, and pick me up in the evening.  Kim and I would have coffee/breakfast together before walking across the street to work. We also spent lunch time there,  because we were obsessed with large jigsaw puzzles, and there was always a puzzle to work on. I can't tell you how many puzzles we put together. So, so many puzzles. 

About the time she got divorced, my partner hired a new helper. He rode into work with us and so that is how Kim met her second husband, Doug Bell. Then came another lovely little girl, Nicole. Several years later, Kim and Doug divorced and she decided to move to Monterey where her father was living. That would have been around 1983. I visited her numerous times in Monterey. In the early years she worked a couple of jobs, one of which was delivering pizza in the evenings, and I would go on delivery runs with her. We always seemed to have a night or two free to go dancing at The Club. Which is where we were the night she met her third husband, Nate Cagle. Then came a son, Travis. 

Kim worked really hard those early years, working several jobs and going to school. By the time she graduated, I had moved to Washington state. I drove down for her graduation, I was so proud of her. She eventually landed the perfect job with the perfect boss, Mike. I visited several more times over the following years, a couple of solo trips, one trip to bring my two young daughters to meet her, another trip to take her to a concert, and she made a trip up here around 2000.

We were friends the moment we met, and we remained friends for more than 45 years. We partied hard those early years, drinking and clubbing. Getting high and laughing till we were nearly sick. We must have talked for hundreds of hours. We eventually out grew the partying, but the laughing and talking never stopped. We hadn't seen each other for a number of years, but we could still talk on the phone for hours. I am seriously going to miss those phone calls. Though I am very sad that she has gone beyond the veil, I am glad that she is no longer suffering or in pain. She was the clumsiest person I ever met (really), but she was also loving, smart, kind, positive, encouraging and supportive. She was a really good friend and I loved her.