LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Kathie Reeves, 58, of Jerusalem Valley died March 13, 2019, at home in her own bed as she desired, her husband at her side, after fighting brain cancer for more than four and a half years.

She was wife, lover, teacher, mother. Gardener and Taiko drummer. Lover of books and candlelight. Sandcastle builder extraordinaire. Poet and patron of the arts. Fragile and unbreakable in the exact same moments. Independent and introspective. Fiercely loyal. Intentional Muse to a thousand students. Inspiration to all who knew her.

Born Kathryn Lynette Hindalong on Halloween Day 1960, she lived and loved as playfully as her birthday portended.

Kathie grew and came of age in Montebello, California. She attended college in Santa Barbara, California. In both places she met friends that she kept close to all of her life.

After obtaining her teaching credential in 1983 she moved to the Mendocino Coast, where she met her husband in 1986. Her two children were born in 1988 and 1989.

Kathie and her family moved to Lake County in 1990 when she was hired by Middletown Unified School District. She taught mostly second grade from that time, teaching at Coyote Valley Elementary school from the day it opened until her illness forced her retirement in 2014.

She was greatly responsible for envisioning and creating what is now the thriving and beautiful Coyote Valley Elementary School Garden.

Her spirit was never broken by her terrible diagnosis.

She is survived by both of her parents, her only sibling, her husband of 31 years and her two adult children.

A celebration of her life will be held in Middletown at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 11. For more information call 707-888-0882.

In lieu of everything else, Kathie requests that you take a favorite child outside to the backyard garden dirt (or mud!) and play, play, play. Explore. Find worms and bugs, spiders and ladybeetles. Encourage them to get the dirt under their fingernails (and yours!). Ruin their clothing with the good great earth. Marvel at the miracle of the easily overlooked. Because she understands to the core of her being that such a thing is in fact Sacred, she very much wishes to instill the same knowledge in the children she hasn't yet taught, it's just that she needs your help with that now. If this seems a little too much to ask, then she requests the following of you instead: Turn off the TV and the telephones, snuggle in, and read a (chapter) book together with a favorite child. She promises you won't regret it.