Kathleen Reiche Gillmore is celebrating a White Christmas in Heaven this year. She passed through the veil peacefully December 9, 2024, at age 92, in The Woodlands, Texas, surrounded by loving family. She was born May 22, 1932, in Phoenix, Arizona, to Kate Kathleen Groo Reiche and Robert Astle Reiche. She was the fourth of eleven children.

Kathy enjoyed being creative and was blessed with artistic talent. Her favorite classes in high school were art related. She became skilled at sewing and, while a teenager, was the family seamstress, sometimes using printed feed sacks as fabric. Kathy always enjoyed dancing, beginning with tap dance lessons at four years old. She later learned to hula, performing for church functions and at private parties.

Kathy became engaged to Clinton Harold Gillmore in September 1949, with plans to marry the following June. However, three months later Clint was asked by his bishop to serve a mission. At that time the Church was allowed one temporary draft exemption per ward, per year. So their marriage was postponed. During Clint's mission to Argentina, Kathy also devoted her life to the Lord, serving a local stake mission, with her father as her companion. After the long two-and-a-half-year wait, they drove from Carmichael, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah, the nearest LDS temple at the time, and were married twelve days after Clint's return.

Three weeks later Clint entered basic training in the U.S. Army. They decided to make a military career their life because they felt that was how they could best serve the Lord. They enjoyed traveling the world together with their five children, (four born in Germany and one in Oklahoma). When Clint received orders for Vietnam, Kathy prayerfully decided that she and the children would join him so the family could stay together, even if it meant living in a war-torn country.

Kathy enjoyed socializing, serving and staying active in the Servicemen's Wives' Club. Along with being on bowling leagues, she took, and later taught, painting, machine embroidery and cake decorating classes. Throughout the years she created many beautiful cakes for special events and church activities. For a time, Kathy and Clint ran a wedding business from their home, where they provided everything from wedding gowns and cakes to a pair of live white doves.

Kathy lived a faithful life of activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held many callings, where she had a profound influence in the lives of many people. Her love for the Savior manifested in her service to others. Her favorite scripture was "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" Psalm 3:5-6.

Kathy and Clint served a senior couple microfilming mission in Puerto Rico and Guatemala. After their return home, they served part time in the California Sacramento Mission, providing meals at mission gatherings.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her beloved husband Clint; sisters Beverly and Shirley; and brothers Bob, Harris and Frank. She is survived by her children Kathleen Faith (Butch), Derrell (Kathy), David (Susan), Diana (Marcus), and Kent (Cathy). She has increased her posterity with 21 grandchildren, 44 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters Marilyn and Sharon and brothers Bruce, Ralph and Marvin.

The story of her life, "Love Notes from Heaven: A Memoir by Kathleen Reiche Gillmore," is available on Amazon. The following is taken from the back cover:

Born in the midst of the Great Depression,
Mingled with enemy POWs during WWII,
Experienced firsthand the aftermath of war in Europe,
Crossed the Atlantic in a WWII transport ship,
Caught in the middle of a coup in Vietnam,
Survived airplanes that lost oxygen and an engine,
Forced to evacuate a war-torn country with a sick child,
Crossed the Ketchikan in a canoe,
Hiked the tropical rainforest of Puerto Rico,
Explored a panther infested jungle in Guatemala,
Witnessed the casting out of an evil spirit,
Rescued from a dangerous situation by a vision,
Blessed with instantaneous healing,
Traveled with a visitor from Heaven, and
Walked the paths that Jesus walked.
These are but a few of the memorable moments of my life.

Her life celebration service will be held the morning of Wednesday, January 8, 2025, at the Richards LDS church, 25623 Richards Rd, Spring, Texas, 77386. The viewing will be from 9:00-10:45, and the service at 11:00. All are invited to wear pink in her honor, as it is her favorite color.