I just learned of “Aunt” Kate’s passing today.  When Bill, Henry and I stayed with her in 2007 or so.  I really bonded with this wonderful lady.  She was gracious, hospitable, welcoming, caring and everything you could ask for.  It was nice meeting her kids and grandkids and will never forget the video her grandson made with our camera!!!  😂. Rest In Peace Aunt Kate! ❤️

My grandma always had a special place in my heart. As a little girl, I have wonderful memories of playing dress up in her aprons, putting on "shows", checking all the candy jars/hiding places, and getting to sit on the armrest in the back seat of her Buick (seatbelt on, of course). Boxes from Las Vegas were always exciting to open, filled with a new swimsuit or outfit that I always loved. She was so full of laughter and I loved when everyone sat around the dinner table and shared stories when I came to visit. She bought me my first Agatha Christie books and I was immediately hooked. As an adult, she shared book recommendations and recipes. She always left my eggs in the pan a little longer than hers because she knew I liked them dry.  When I was in graduate school and visited every few months, I never left her house empty handed. Fudge, cookies, jars of pasta sauce, even a pan, she always had something to give. She shared her gift of framing with me by framing all my favorite posters and my drawings from my college art class. After the frame shop was gone, it was hard for me to find someone with her talent.  Grandma was never too shy to give constructive criticism of my fashion choices and often offered to take me to the Assistance League to buy jeans without holes in them. It was high praise when she approved of my outfit! We played endless rounds of dominos and Sequence. Grandma was the keeper of the family pictures and stories. She kept in touch with so many and always kept me up to date on what was going on in the extended family. There are no words to express how much love I have in my heart for my grandma and how much I will miss her. 

This is a lovely memorial for Aunt Kate. It means a lot  to me to experience this.  She'll live on through the memories  of her family & friends. I'm sure Frank is there to greet her in the next chapter.

-- Maria Acconci

We all loved it when Katie would come to L.A.   She always stopped
by our house to see Frank and myself and whoever happened to be
here.   She was so easy to talk with and so much fun to be around.  She felt like one of my sisters.  A few times over the years, long ago,  we and a few others would go up to our famous restaurant, the
NICKODELL .  Everyone loved that place.   Our heartfelt sympathy
and condolences to all her family.  We know how much you and all
her friends will miss her.  She is in our prayers.   Eileen Soreghan & Family


Aunt Kate loved her family. I'm Kate's neice from Iowa (Jerry and Pat Judge's daughter). I have many wonderful memories of Aunt Kate coming back to Iowa for visits throughout the years.  She spent her time visiting  family and old friends.  In 2000, Grace and Henry's kids started the Judge family reunions where all the family members would get together every five years for a long weekend of family activities and family photos. Unfortunately we weren't able to gather in 2020 because of the pandemic.
 As was typical of the Judge's and you can see from this photo, none of the siblings are cooperating with the photographer (it's like herding cats, but we love them all the same)! Like Aunt Kate would say, "they're good people, just a little weird." :)

We did not know Kate all our lives, but we always enjoyed her company and her pleasant disposition.  Deepest sympathy to family and friends for her loss.


.  I told her one time her Mom and Dad came to dinner in Adel and I remember her father asking my Dad, “Jack what is the sea level here in Adel?”  Katie said, ohh Dad always asked that question, we laughed.  Visiting her house, I specifically remember her being so proud of her photographs on the wall of her family and grandkids.  
I’m going to miss Katie, her Christmas Cards, and her dry humor.  She was always so kind to ask about Beth and my kids.   She told me how much she really missed the crew from Los Angles and what fun times they had, when they visited her and Frank.  Well Katie, I pray that you and L.A. crew are having a great time right now!  God Bless you Katie!
Joe and Beth O’Brien – Louisville Colorado 


Funny! the things you remember that stick with you.  
Later, when I was married, Beth my wife and I would come out to Vegas, we would try to stop or call to say hello.  When we did meet, they really enjoyed showing us around the town, Frank took us to the Hoover dam, strip, etc… and Frank told us all about his working on the dam as a young man and you could tell he was proud of his work.  I think he was a dynamite specialist??  When we got back, Katie (joking) said, land was only a buck and acre, you would have thought Frank would have bought some land 😊!  Another trip, we stopped, it was Beth and another couple was with us, probably in the late 80s and we told Katie and Frank that we're going to see George Carlin and our seats were not that good. Frank told me, when you go in and are being seated ask to see "DeeKo" and I said, okay.  When the 4 of us went in we did as he said, and sure enough “DeeKo” come up and I said, we are friends of Katie and Frank and he puts us in the front row! We tried to give him money but, he said no, no, no, you do not give me anything... We thought, WOW!  That’s very high class and very cool. The fun part about the story, was that when Frank told me to ask for “DeeKo” Katie leans over at me and whispers in my ear and said, Frank thinks he's Judge Carberry of Las Vegas! We both chuckled... The couple that was with us on that trip some 30 years ago from time to time, will say where's "DeeKo" when you need him!  Great times…
If I was traveling through town on my business trips, I would stop in to see Katie and she'd usually have me over for dinner or she would meet me at the hotel and we would have long talks.  She told me that she was the Homecoming queen, (wow I thought to myself!) I told her a couple stories of her dad, that the only time Henry left Boone County was to get a $100 that he loaned to a Priest who now lived in Minnesota.  Katie said, Joe that is true story!  Man, we laughed.  

To Katie and Family,
I was very saddened to hear the news about Katie. 
I first met Katie in 1972 (I was 12) when my mom and dad, Jack and Mary O'Brien did a long family trip to Los Angeles from Iowa and we visited relatives all along the way.  One of those relatives was Katie and Frank Lybecker.   When we first arrived in Vegas, the sprinklers were on and I ran through the grass. I thought the grass was fake, it was so thick and perfect.  I wondered why were they watering this fake grass? Many years later, I told Katie that story and she said, Frank really manicured his lawn, he enjoyed it, was a passion.  As Katie was remembering the grass, it brought a smile to her face. Well, we stayed with them couple nights, and Frank and Katie took my mom and dad out on the town that night and my mom told me the next day what a fantastic evening that had.  Jenni, was probably five, six at the time and she took me over to her neighbor’s house who had a swimming pool, what a great time I had too!  As we were leaving, I thought wow, Katie and her family were pretty neat.
It was probably another 10 years before I saw Katie again and it was at my Uncle Bills house in Los Angeles. They (Katie and Frank) came in for a long weekend for our Uncle Judges 80th birthday party.  Guessing around ’82 or ’83 and that's where I really got to know Katie.  We spoke a lot about her growing up in Boone about her father, mother, and siblings.  She had told me that she stayed with mom and dad for a week or two once in her high school years which I thought that was pretty neat. I'm sure like any young kid she was trying to see what the other side of the fence looked like.  I know my mother, Mary and Katie's mother Grace we're like two peas in a pod.  Katie, told me when she left after staying with my parents, that my mom threw in a couple of chickens in the trunk of their car (alive) and Katie said, I always remember those chickens wings flapping in back of the trunk on the way home.  - will add 

Katie had a wonderful voice and joyful laugh. She was fond of my parents Jack and Mary OBrien. My dad was her first cousin (his mother Lizzie was her mom’s, sister) Katie was a good story teller. My mom always spoke so highly of her. She was close to my Uncle Bill OBrien - who had moved to LA in the 40s and I saw Katie there a couple of times in the 70 s when she was visiting LA. I always thought she was so full of life. The kind of person who could make a get together more fun. I have been thinking about her a lot and praying for her a lot and I feel she is amongst our wider family and her close family now. She was a beautiful spirit to me and I only met her a couple of times but felt near to her.  She knew my younger brother Joe pretty well. They had a lot of laughs. May God bless Katie and all her family and friends at this time. 

OBITUARY

Katherine Coleman Lybecker

14 April, 1943 – 25 April, 2022

Palm Cheyenne Mortuary

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