Kathy West

Kathleen (Kathy) A. West, 83, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, died on December 7, 2024.

Born in Marshfield, Wisconsin, Kathy spent her childhood in New Ulm, Minnesota. She grew up in a loving family with two brothers and a sister.

Valedictorian of her high school class, Kathy was an exceptional student. She obtained a three-year nursing degree from Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis, and then attended the University of Minnesota for another three years to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. With her husband, she lived in Germany for two years, where she worked at both British and German hospitals. After taking a leave to have the first of their two daughters, she and her small family moved to the Bay Area in California, where she continued her work as a nurse, and where she had their second daughter.

With her family, Kathy moved back to Minnesota and began a long career in the respiratory intensive care and pulmonary care recovery units at Hennepin County Medical Center. Colleagues highly praised Kathy's nursing skills, saying that if they were ever to be hospitalized, it was she whom they wanted to care for them. Like many employees at HCMC, Kathy was deeply dedicated to caring for people who have little means. These experiences, along with belonging to Holy Rosary Parish in south Minneapolis, instilled in her a desire both to gain greater understanding of and to assist the American Indian community in Minneapolis. She thus returned to the University of Minnesota and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Indian Studies.

Kathy is known to her family, friends, and neighbors as a loyal, dedicated, and giving person. She was also a progressive. Though she was reserved, it wasn't unusual for her to pound on the breakfast table to emphasize her frustration about social and economic injustice. She and her husband are current members of the Church of St. Albert the Great, and are long-time residents of the Longfellow neighborhood of south Minneapolis.

Kathy was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, and is survived by her loving husband, her two daughters and their husbands, a brother and sister, and three grandchildren.

Public visitation begins at Noon, and a memorial service will be held December 19th at 1:00PM at the Church of St. Albert the Great, 2836 33rd Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55406.

Donations in Kathy's memory may be directed to Brady United Against Gun Violence (https://www.bradyunited.org/).