Kathryn Eleanor Mumford

Kathryn Eleanor (Link) Mumford (February 27, 1922- April 22, 2020) has flown up to meet her Lord Jesus Christ. If you just did the math, yes, she lived a long and full 98 years. A humble servant of the Lord, Kathryn was known as a Christian first and foremost; but, she collected so many other titles throughout her journey here on earth. She was also called Dad’s Schatzi (which means “Little Treasure” in German), Mom, Mum, GGK (Great Grandma Kaye), GGGK, boss, friend, musician, storyteller, teacher, and hummingbird--all names reflecting the ways she touched the lives of those she met.

Kaye was born Kathryn Eleanor Link in St. Michael, Nebraska to Carl William Link and Maria Vernice Taylor Link on a small farm in which her family took great pride. Mom’s greatest memories are of living on the farm with her family, sisters Helen (1914-2002) and Janette (1926-1971) and brother Harold (1917-2004) as well as an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Highlights from that time are encompassed in stories of Colonel the horse, lambs, baby ducks, geese and chicks, tending the cows in the field, and riding with her dad as he harvested. She would recount these stories even in her last days at the Twin Oaks Nursing home in Tulare. It was a magical time for her as a young girl.

During the dust bowl years, her life would change drastically. Unable to support the farm, her family moved to the San Francisco area to gain employment and assistance from other family members during the summer of 1937. Her parents found work gardening and housekeeping and Kathryn was sent to her Aunt Ferne and Uncle Bert’s home to help care for her cousin Shirley and to help with household chores. Kathryn was on her own until the family would reunite on the weekends. The rest of the family returned to Nebraska at the end of the summer, but Kathryn was asked to continue to live in San Francisco with her aunt, thereby adding the title of nanny to her growing resume. She enrolled at Commerce High School and continued her education there through her sophomore and junior years. To her delight, she was able to return to the farm and her senior year was spent at Ravenna High School, where she graduated in 1940.

With job opportunities in Nebraska nonexistent and her family unable to pay for college tuition, Kaye returned to San Francisco. Now back in the big city, Kaye became reacquainted with the world of cable cars, fashion, dancing and work outside the home in a local downtown market. She lived in a boarding house on Haight Street. In the downstairs breakfast nook of her boarding house, she would notice a man glancing from around an upside-down newspaper. Kenneth Marshall Mumford (1919-1989) was a man too shy to ask her out so he sent his brother Bill to do his bidding. And so a courtship ensued with chats and walks and dancing under city stars. On February 15, 1942, they were married in Oakland by Mom’s grandfather, Charles Hilton Taylor, a former circuit rider preacher, now a builder of homes. Ken would leave his bride immediately to serve his country in the U. S. Merchant Marines.

On her own, back in San Francisco, Mom gave birth to her first son Marshall Link Mumford in 1944. In spite of sneaking out to a ride a city bus at three years of age and other antics, he would go on to serve as a medic/paratrooper in the US Army for three years, and a special education director in Tulare, CA. He would bring Mom her first daughter-in-law Kitty (Williams) Mumford and this union would gift Kaye with her first grandchild Jeremy, and two other grandsons, Patrick and Adam. Jeremy married Danielle bringing Mom great grands Jacob and Evelyn. Patrick married Kari adding Darby to Mom’s grands. And Adam married Ana bringing along Althea and Adam, Jr. But, wait; mom also became a great great grandma when Darby and Ashlynn became parents to Sawyer.

Marshall was one of three sons for Kaye and Ken. Five years after Marshall was born, Monte Hilton Mumford was born in Stockton, CA. Monte would meet and marry his love Kathleen (Kathy) Kennedy Mumford in 1971, while both were students at Seattle Pacific University. They brought Mom more grandsons: Marc and Myles Geoffry. This side of the family moved to Tasmania, Australia for Monte’s work as a professor, conductor, and musician. Monte and his family hosted Mom many times, thrilling her with the sites of Australia, often on the back of Dad’s motorcycle, and attending Monte’s concerts and family activities. This and Mom’s missionary work in Africa gave her another title: world traveler. Marc married Heike Becker bringing four more great grandsons: William, Otto, Huw and Erich. And Myles married Tegan Phillips bringing Mom another great grandson, Fynn.

Now, you know Ken was a Donut King. The family spent years opening and running donut shops, fish and chips, and various other restaurant endeavors. Mom served as business partner, accountant, assistant, deliverer, greeter, and waitress. During all this, she still served her church, Mapleview Baptist, as Sunday School teacher, organist, singer-soloist, choir member, in addition to carrying out her duties as a Mom and helping the boys with their music lessons. In fact, music played a major part in her long life. Kaye was a fine, gifted musician, who seemed to always be singing and would readily play any piano available! (Add teacher to her titles!) The family eventually settled in the San Diego area in 1955, and purchased a new home in Santee, a newly developed suburb east of San Diego, in 1959.

So the story goes, Marshall and Monte decided they wanted a little brother. Mom and Dad complied. Matthew Kenneth Mumford arrived six days before Mom’s 36th birthday in 1958. Mom was instrumental in Matt getting into the Coast Guard Academy, which eventually took him to the East coast for an assignment in Norfolk, Virginia. It was there he met Patricia Kelley Webb. Patty came with AW Webb from her first marriage. Matt, and the rest of the Mumfords, adopted him with a whole lot of love. Matt and Patty added twin sons Myles William and Michael to their family. AW blessed GGK with a great granddaughter, Alysia, and Michael gave her a great grandson, Riley.

Now, if you’re counting, Ken and Kaye had three SONs, nine grandSONs, nine great grandSONS, three great granddaughters, and a great, great grandSON. That gives a whole new meaning to “Mumford and Sons.” Thank goodness, we finally got a few great granddaughters to balance out the testosterone.

After Ken passed in 1989, Mom retired from her job as a nursing home administrator. She worked her way to that position in a man’s world with only a high school diploma. Her facility received multiple awards and she helped countless clients and families navigate the care of their special needs children.

The retirement left Mom free to travel, AKA “make the circuit” as we called it. She would travel between Australia to visit Monte’s crew, to Wyoming to visit her brother Harold, to Tulare to stay at Marshall’s, to Washington to visit her sister Helen, niece Karen and husband John and her great nephew Dan, and then to California or Oklahoma where Matt would be to visit her youngest family. In all these visits she would also get to be aunt to Judi, Theo, Jan, and Cindy and great aunt to their children. Kaye would become part of all of our families--each daughter-in-law’s, each church family, each son’s friends and co-workers. She literally became known to everyone in our circles. After leaving each place she would continue to correspond with the friends she’d made and ask about them on our frequent phone calls. She never met a stranger and would not tolerate anyone using the word “bored.”

Mom had a life-long appreciation for history and passed that love to her three sons. So add historian/student to her many titles. Although she grew up in a Christian home, it was at the age of 22 that she experienced a personal relationship with the Lord. Being a lover of history, she loved reading the Bible. Up until her eyes were no longer able to see, she read the Bible completely through each year. Not only did she read it, but applied Biblical principles and often shared verses and passages from the Bible to others. When she could no longer read, she listened to the Bible on tape.

American Patriot is another title that described Mom. She loved America and proudly wore red, white and blue on any patriotic holiday; she loved the American flag, parades, patriotic songs, and all things politically conservative.

In 2006 she made her final visit to Australia to meet her two newest great grandsons, William and Otto. Following that trip, she could still travel a bit to visit Marshall and Kitty and join them in their annual family reunion campout at Logger Flat, or see her nieces in the northwest. Matt was able to take her back to Nebraska as the oldest matriarch at the Link Family Reunion. And, in 2013, Myles, Tegan, Marc and William made the journey from Australia to visit GGK. As Mom’s travel became further constricted, Monte and Kathy regularly visited Mom on their trips to the USA.

Matt and Patty would move to Tillamook, Oregon in 2006. Mom was 84 years young then. However, the family agreed it was best for her to move out of the San Diego home of 47 years to be near loved ones to care for her. She enjoyed her Santee adopted family, Hale and Lorna Simonds who lovingly watched over her, but with declining vision and having given up driving, she needed to be closer to family. After family efforts to clean out and sell the Mumford home, Mom moved into an apartment in Matt and Patty’s house fixed up just for her. Unfortunately, her health began a turn for the worse. She developed sciatica that was so painful we enlisted professionals. We made the tough decision to move her to an assisted living facility five minutes from Matt and Patty where she would get more social interaction and nursing care.

Mom regained most of her mobility, got the pain under control, and thrived at Five Rivers. Here, we add another title: ambassador. She became an ambassador of the center, welcoming other residents and serving as a member of the committee to give input to management. We saw her multiple times weekly having lunch with her and her tablemates, taking her on motorcycle rides, to local events, her church activities, our activities and home to Matt and Patty’s for movie night, holidays, and special dinners. Many friends came to town to visit her and Marshall and Kitty came a couple times a year to spend weeks at a time with Kaye. All and all, she was healthy with the exception of a yearly bout with pneumonia, and her eyesight and touch steadily declining. It didn’t stop her from “running Five Rivers” or the hospital during those stays. We would get frequent calls: “Could you tell your mom to quit turning off all the lights in the evening?” or “We found your mom in the hospital hall telling the nurses what to do.” That was Mom, saving a penny and managing others, conscious or not.

Matt and Patty moved to LA in 2013. We decided Mom should be near Marshall and Kitty as they were both retired and the assisted living had a nursing home attached. Bless her, she had moved enough; we wanted some stability for her. Twin Oaks Assisted Living was five minutes from Marshall and Kitty. The grandchildren and greats and great greats could visit. Marshall and Kitty could take her to their church and home for visits and holidays with Kitty’s Williams family. Eventually, Mom would decline further and need the care of the Twin Oaks nursing home. Marshall and Kitty would go daily to help her with routine tasks and feeding her dinner each evening. Several times, we thought she was on her way to the Lord; but, she would bounce back saying, “I guess the Lord has more work for me to do here. When I can’t serve Him on earth anymore, it will be time to go.”

On the afternoon of April 22, 2020, that day came. Her frail little hummingbird body had diminished to a mere 77 pounds and she just “wanted to go home to be with the Lord” and join the great company of her family and friends who had gone on before. Add another title: Daughter of the King. Her body will be interred at El Camino Mortuary in San Diego where she will lie next to her beloved husband Ken.

We all miss her dearly. However, we are all blessed to have had her in our lives. In lieu of being able to gather, we are sharing a portion of her story with you. We know you were blessed by her, too. During this writing friends/family have called with other names: “pistol, cowgirl, glitter-bomb, and disciple.” What a legacy of family she brought to the world and what a legacy of service she leaves behind. Someday, when all are free to move about again when travel restrictions are lifted from the COVID-19 coronavirus, there will be celebrations of Kaye, Mom, Mum, GGK, GGGK’s life. Meanwhile, know she is perfectly peaceful in exactly the place she wants to be.

A fitting Bible verse to end this story of Kathryn Mumford’s life is found in Isaiah 43:1

But now, this is what the LORD says—

he who created you,

he who formed you,

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”

Private interment services will be held.

Written by daughter-in-law Patty Mumford April 24, 2020, with collaboration from family.