We will miss you Kathy Cortez
Kathy Cortez passed away on the evening of New Years 2009. As a long time supporter of the Bluegrass Community she was well respected and in the North County Bluegrass & Folk Club she consistently acted as the “Raffle Queen” at the First Tuesday Bluegrass Meetings Both Kathy and Skip Greany attended and supported both the North County and the SDBS events. You always could count on them to attend the club campouts as well as many other bluegrass events.
After being laid off of her job in Ramona due to an ownership change of her employer, and just a few months ago Kathy decided to move to Texas to live with her daughter. Things were going quite well and she was very happy to be with her daughter, helping with her grandchildren.
Lately Kathy had not been ill except for a cold she was getting over and seemed fine otherwise, except for a chronic case of indigestion. She was enjoying being with her daughters family in Texas over the past several months (since August, I think). She did not come down in the morning at the usual time for breakfast so they went upstairs to wake her and found her. There was nothing apparent as to what happened but that she had passed away either in the morning getting dressed or most likely preparing to retire for the night sometime.
There has to be an autopsy to determine what happened so they may not know anything more for 4-6 weeks. After the autopsy she will be cremated according to her wishes. Beyond that the family has made no firm decisions at the time this is being written.. We pray that she passed as quietly- peacefully sleeping one moment and passing to heaven in the next. John Deckard, her brother, will pass along any information they get.
We in the North County Bluegrass & Folk Club were so shocked. Kathy was only 58. John Deckard says she and his brother Amos were the “healthy” ones in the family of eleven children so he was doubly shocked. We are keeping John and Mary Lee Deckard in our prayers and know that all of you will also.
Hello all. I don't know if any of you will remember me, I haven't been around many club meetings for many years...I am Kathy's daughter Daniella.
I want you all to know just how much not only the Club as a whole, but the people in it meant to my mom. She was so very fond of so many of you. Your friendship meant so much to her. Many of you have known her for many many years, you know what a loving and warm person she was.
We want to thank you all for the prayers, the loving support you have given John and Mary, the support you have offered us in this terribly tough time. But most of all I want to thank you all for being such wonderful friends to my mother. We brought her here with us not only because her and I could not stand being so far away from each other, but to give her a better opportunity for retirement. To be able to rest, relax and have nothing but love and happiness in her life with her grandchildren. With the exception of missing her friends and her weekly meetings...she was the happiest I have seen her in many many years. She laughed every day, she played like a child, she held her grandbabies every night. I feel so blessed to have been able to give her a warm home, the love she so deserved, the ease of a worry free life for her last six months.
We know now that she had coronary artery disease, and her on-again-off-again heartburn for two days before her death were warning signs of the heart attack that struck her sometime in the evening, and eventually led to cardiac arrest. I will never know if she was even aware that she was having a heart attack, but I do believe she woke up not feeling well and was getting dressed to come wake me when her heart finally gave out. She passed at approximately 2 am on January 2nd. My husband and children found her at 9 am the next morning. I can only wish that she had made it down the stairs or been able to call out to me, maybe she'd still be here with us now. But one of the things we have had to remind ourselves of every day...that I want all of you who have been effected by this as well to know and remember..........
My Mom NEVER wanted to get "old". She never wanted to become "feeble" as she would say. For many years she had feared becoming old and possibly becoming sick or dependant upon me to take care of her. She has always told me that she hoped someday she would simply go to sleep and not wake up, that her death would not be tragic or cause her loved ones to suffer through some drawn out process. She wished to live each day to it's fullest until God decided it was her time to continue her work elsewhere and she may go quietly.
This was as close to her wish as one could hope. She kissed me goodnight, held her babies and kissed them, told us all how much she loved us every night for months on end....then she got to go...to be with God and her beloved husband on her own terms.
How blessed she is to have gone quickly, to have loved, to have given as much love as she did, to have touched as many lives as she did. And how blessed we are to have known her.
As much I miss her and as much as my heart aches with each breath I take that I cannot share with her...I tell myself every day...
"For in the end it is not the years in your life that matter, but the life in your years."
And if anyone lived, it was Kathyryn Cortez. She taught me countless lessons. She gave me endless and unconditional love, patience, faith, strength and unmatched friendship. More than that...she taught me how to give those things to others. She showed us through her life how to be positive, how to look past the struggles and see the blessings in your life...how to always spot the warm sun through the clouds, what it means to truly love, and what is and always will be the most important things in life...the simple things...love, laughter, family and friendship. She showed me through her death just how strong of a woman she has helped me become, and to hold close to my heart every moment I breathe the lessons I learned by watching her live. Cheers to one of the strongest women most of us will have ever known, the woman who always made lemonade with whatever lemons were thrown her way and always with a smile on her face...thankful to have any lemons at all, to the kindest heart I myself have ever known....the heart that I will spend the remainder of my waking hours missing.
Remember my mother with the smile she always wore proudly. Remember not to mourn her, but to celebrate her life. Remember that she cared so much for so many of you.
Thank you again for your prayers and support. At this point in time we hope to come home to San Diego this coming summer and have her memorial service there at which time I will spread her ashes. Once plans have been made, I will ask John and Mary to notify you all. The San Diego Bluegrass Club was such a HUGE part of my mom's life and my childhood...all who wish to attend are more than welcome.