"Katie, also affectionately known as 'Kate-Bate,' 'Katy-Did' and 'Kate-Kate' came into our lives in Okinawa, Japan while our father was serving in the Air Force. I was 7, Carrie was 5, and JoEllen was 2. She was born only 59 minutes after her cousin Dawn, who had just been born on the other side of the world. She was named after her two grandmothers, Kathleen Smith and Edna Parker.
"Being the baby, my mom intended to keep her that way by giving her a baby fork and spoon at meals until she was 10 or 11. As older siblings, we always felt she got away with a lot because when we were slaving away every Saturday morning with yard and house work; Katie was across the street at her Aunt Kathy’s house playing with her cousins.
"As she grew up, she loved playing with Barbies, so one of my best friends Scott and I built her a 3 story Barbie house for Christmas which included a two car garage, carpeted floors, and real shingles on the roof. She often said it was her favorite Christmas ever. Every year on Katie’s birthday our dad would buy her a corsage and take her out on a date where ever she wanted to go. During her youth she also loved to read and loved to write stories.
"As a young teen she was fortunate to spend summers in the Bahamas and even lived there for her senior year in High School, where she graduated with a huge class of only one other person named Tory. Some of her adventures in the Bahamas included diving for conchs, spearing and eating crawfish, cruising the island on a motor bike, and living on a house boat.
"When she returned to Virginia after graduating from high school, she resumed her habit of making herself at home in the Young house because she and Kendra were such good friends. At this exact time, Justin had just returned from his mission to Colorado. His first memory of Katie was of her coming in and sitting at the kitchen table while their family was eating sub sandwiches. She had a habit of eating off everyone’s plate which the Young’s were entirely used to. Justin says he was a little nervous having such a beautiful girl sitting next to him as a newly returned missionary! He first noticed her big beautiful blue eyes.
"Kendra remembers a time when Katie was staying overnight with her and she went to bed leaving Justin and Katie up talking – when she got up the next morning at 6:00am to her astonishment they were still talking. Kendra says right then and there she felt sick to her stomach realizing she had probably lost her best friend to her brother!
"Long nights of conversation turned into something more and they made plans to marry. Even Hurricane Floyd in 1999 could not stop them from driving to Washington DC temple to get married. Because of the storm they had the temple to themselves. To make the day even more special, after the sealing the temple worker took them aside and privately informed them that their children had witnessed their sealing from the other side of the veil.
"Of all the good times my mom has ever had with Katie over the years her favorite day was being in the House of the Lord watching her baby get married.
"We all have our favorite things we like and Katie was no different. These are just a few of her favorites:
*Favorite place – the beach
*Favorite food – sushi
*Favorite movie – Return to Me and anything Jane Austin
*Favorite saying – "Oh
shoot!"
"Of all Katie’s favorites, there was nothing on Earth to compare to her two favorite little ones –
Justin and Madison. They were her whole world and not a single day went by without her saying to someone – anyone – “
Aren’t they precious?”
"
Now for some of our favorite family memories:
"Two summers ago Katie came down to visit me in Florida and I took her for her first surfing lesson. The waves were really small but it didn’t seem to bother her because she was hanging out at the beach with her favorite brother.
"One year ago Carrie called Katie from Sacramento to invite her to go on her company cruise to Cabo, Mexico. They were able to spend time together sight-seeing, shopping, sun-bathing and of course eating. To make the trip more special Carrie put a little gift under Katie’s pillow each evening.
"One of JoEllen and Katie’s favorite things to do was to snuggle up on the couch to watch good movies. Just recently they cozied up to watch a movie, when they realized they had no chocolate. So they made a run to 'Katie’s Wal-Mart' for the biggest bag of M&M’s they could find, all the while they promised themselves they were only going to eat a few. However by the time the movie was over, you guessed it, the entire bag was gone.
"Some of Kendra’s favorite memories were of spending time with Katie in the Bahamas on their many adventures – including their motorbike ride which ended with Kendra jumping off as Katie accidentally rode off the end of the dock into the sea.
"Kendra also remembers what an absolute perfectionist she was when preparing a gift for someone – Katie would agonize over every detail even down to the exact shade of ribbon she would use. Katie was a giver.
"These are a few of our favorite memories… perhaps you have your own memories of Katie as well.
"Katie was the
youngest in our family to get married, the
youngest to have a baby, and as it turns out, the
youngest to receive her Patriarchal Blessing at 13. There is a line in the last paragraph of her blessing that has always caused our family to wonder and question its meaning. It reads:
'It matters not the number of days you live but the direction you set your life’s course upon.'
"We don’t understand all the reasons the Lord has seen fit to take her home at this time. But we have a strong faith that he knows best and whatever the reasons, they will be for her eternal welfare. A scripture in Job chapter 1 sums up the way we feel as a family –
“
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” (
Job 1: 21)
"The Lord gave us our precious Katie and the Lord took away our precious Katie. Let us be thankful for the time we had with my precious baby sister."
