Kathie Dalby

Kathie Dalby, the beautiful mother, wife, sister, and mawmaw, we are here to celebrate today, was called on January 16, 2025, to be with our Lord and Savior. She will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing her. 

Kathie loved her family and friends, the color blue, birds of every feather and color, fishing, doodling, drawing, sewing, and crafts. She adored her old, schnauzer, Ernie, who is no doubt, already in her lap in Heaven. 

She was a very picky eater so, don’t get between her and a pound of snow crab legs, a slice of Black Tie Mousse Cake from Olive Garden or her favorite apple pie, made by her father in law, Billy. 

Kathie loved the Kansas City Chiefs and the Ohio State Buckeyes and knew both would go all the way this year…why didn’t we play the lottery?!

Kathie and husband, Thomas,  married back in 2002 and had so many wonderful adventures together traveling for his job. They drove all over the U.S., from Cheyenne, WY to Potsdam, NY and North Carolina to Florida and back all over Texas but she loved being home and she loved Thomas’ garden, with his homegrown tomatoes, squash, greens and anything else she wanted. He never denied her of anything. And she loved his home cooking, but she wanted mashed potatoes instead of rice, every now and again. 

And she loved that home..that blue tin-roofed, log cabin that her and Thomas built from the ground up. It was beautiful, cozy and hidden on 5 acres. A getaway in the woods, with WiFi! 

But what Kathie loved the most, was her favorite, albeit, only grandson, Tanner. From the moment he came into this world she was smitten. She was beyond proud of him and pushed past her severe depression to make it to his high school graduation and then to his graduation from the Baptist Radiology Program, where he received Honors. 

Kathie was an extremely gifted floral designer for over 27 years and worked in some of the best florists in Mid County. She was also an incredibly talented quilter, sewest and crafter. There wasn’t a craft or sewing technique she couldn’t master. In fact, several of you probably have at least one quilt from her. 

Kathie was a bit of a gamer…well, dice games, board games, and some card games. She loved losing games of Yahtzee to her #1 daughter, Jenny, but she always got her revenge at Scrabble. Nobody could make a triple word score with a J, Q or Z quite like she could! She loved doing jigsaw puzzles with Thomas and crossword puzzles but Candy Crush was where you would hear a swear word or two, when she ran out of moves on the last try!! 

Kathie was quirky, silly, picky, stubborn as an ox and told it like it was and sometimes you didn’t want to hear it but she would help you in any way she could. Her days were always better after a call from her 2nd favorite daughter, Jackie, and her hair salon full of girls. They would all gather in the break room and call “mom” to cheer her up if she was having a bad day or just to check on her. Mom looked forward to those daily calls and loved those girls. 

Kathie was greeted at the pearly gates by her parents, Joesph and Shirley Romola, and a few friends that got there before she did.

She leaves behind her devoted husband, Thomas Dalby; two beautiful daughters, Jennifer (Linn) and Jackie; one amazing grandson, Tanner; loving in-laws, Billy and Betty Dalby; two awesome brothers, Joseph Romola and David Romola; the sweetest sister-in-law, Juanita McMains; and a lovely step-daughter, Tracy. There are numerous other family members and friends who will also miss her dry sense of humor, snarky comments and Eeyore  style of conversation but we all loved that about her and we will think of her every time we see a pretty, blue bird.