Kathleen Leota Churchill, 81, of Little Rock, Arkansas passed away peacefully on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 surrounded by her loving family and friends. In Kakky fashion, she waited until ''the party'' arrived for her to join hands with her Lord and Savior. She always said, ''She worked her entire life to join Him.''.
Kathy was predeceased by her parents, Leo and Leota Wilson; her son, Kevin Churchill and her older sister, Loretta Secrest. Left to carry on her bubbling spirit, tremendous faith and never- give-up attitude is her husband of almost 61 years, Spence Churchill; daughter, Kristin Trulock of Little Rock; favorite, and thank goodness, only son-in-law, Greg Trulock; daughter-in-law, Kimberley Churchill of San Diego; six grandchildren, Carly Davis (Jace), Walter Trulock, Wilson Trulock, Emma Churchill, Joy Churchill, Joshua Churchill; sister, Judy Carlson and sister-in-law, Elisabeth Churchill. Just on May 30th, her first great-grandchild, Landon Rhodes Davis, was born to her delight. Numerous cousins, nieces and nephews were a big part of her joyful times, along with so many friends she loved seeing and being with whenever possible.
Kathy grew up in a humble and happy background as the youngest of 3 daughters to Leo and Leota Wilson. She was born in Torrence, California on October 21, 1942. She spent her younger years in Orange County, California, until she wanted to see if the grass really was blue in Kentucky, where she enrolled at the University of Kentucky after spending one year at Fullerton Junior College. On the first day on campus, she met her husband-to-be, a counselor in the men's/women's dorm. He was the first person to offer to change her light bulbs. He has been around for 60 years to change whatever she needed. Spence and Kathy lived in Southern California and Northern California where their son & daughter were born, before moving to Arkansas in 1971. As a couple, they loved to travel within the USA and abroad with two other special couples. As sweet of a lady as Kathy was, she could voice some ''zingers'' your way without any warning. If you ended a conversation with her without her unique giggle, you might be in trouble later.
Kathy had many nicknames throughout her life, including Positive Polly, Mama Church, Honey and Babe. Her most treasured was Kakky, which her grandchildren called her. She thought each of them personally hung a little slice of the moon. There was such respect, fun and love going in both directions between them and that was always present. Kakky never missed a grandchild's activity! All the grandchildren's friends knew they could count on her to cheer for them, too.
During her battle with cancer, the thing she missed most was not being able to help other people, which always made her day. To help other people, she served as a PTA President, Board Chairman at church, board member at Youth Home and Citizens Fidelity Insurance Co. She also helped establish the Arkansas Chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation and volunteered at Home for Healing, WPRCI Auxiliary and CCFA.
Throughout her life, she was our family's example of putting others before ourselves. We will always remember her for all the things she lovingly did for us. It is hard saying goodbye to someone we love so much.
We wish to extend our appreciation and gratitude to Kathy's health and hospice care providers for their excellent attention to Kathy's needs: Dr. Tu, nurse, Angie Ford, Sandra Jones, Shannon Greer, Tiffany Hadden, Kayarrah Muldrew, Jan Stewart and Katherine Allen.
Each doctor she met was told, ''I am going to beat it.'' She did beat it because she knew at the end of her journey of over two years battling stage 4 cancer, her Lord and Savior would be waiting for her with open arms. She led her life loving the Lord, loving her family, loving people and loving life. She had beaten cancer three other times, so there was no quit in her. She was a people person who would talk to anybody and win them over because they could tell she had an interest in them no matter their walk of life.
