Funeral services for Kathy Elaine Perkins, 77, Kansas City, MO, will be 2 pm, Thursday April 20, 2017, at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, 601 Indiana St. Lawrence, KS 66044. Burial will be Saturday, April 22, 2017, at Steep Hill Cemetery, Ft. Smith Arkansas.
She died Tuesday, April 18, 2017, at St. Luke’s Hospice House.
Kathy was born February 14, 1940, in Pocola, OK, the daughter of Buddy and Millie Phillips Perkins.
She graduated from Pocola High School in 1958. Kathy was always an excellent student ranking at the top of her class. She later received her Associate’s degree from Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wiburton, OK in 1960. Kathy received her Bachelor’s degree in math and teacher’s education from Northeastern Oklahoma, Tahlequah, OK in 1962. Later she went on to get her Master’s degree from Southeastern State, Durant, OK. She was the first generation college student in her family.
Kathy taught high school math in Alma and Fort Smith, Arkansas, until moving to Kansas City, MO in 1968. She taught for almost 40 years at Western Missouri Mental Health, working with hundreds of troubled Kansas City High School students and was very instrumental in many returning successfully to the public school system. In the summer of 2014 Kathy’s accomplishments as a teacher was recognized by the KC Royals by sitting in the Buck O’Neil Seat at Kauffman Stadium.
She loved her parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews very much. She married Oliver Patters in 1982 and remained his loving and supportive companion for 29 years until his death in 2011.
Survivors include two sisters Odessa Baxter, Pocola, OK, Lorene Williams, Galdstone, MO; many nieces and nephews.
She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Oliver, brother Leonard Perkins, sister Linda Bly.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Arthritis Foundation, sent in care of Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.
