On March 7, 1949 Kay Louise Stamm entered the world in the then little known town of Kalamazoo, Michigan. She was the second child and first daughter of Gerald and Beatrice Stamm. Her mother passed away when she was just 13 and right then my Mom became a Mom to 3 sisters and 2 brothers. On March 25, 1967 while a senior at Loy Norrix High School on Spring Break she married Phil Blease and was now Kay Louise Blease. They previously dated for 3 years before tying the knot. Interesting to note, that Dad’s parents also had the same first names. On May 29, 1970 she gave birth to their first daughter (Candi Louise Blease). On December 27, 1973 she gave birth to their first son, me (Andy John Blease). On June 14, 1976 she gave birth to her last child (Randy Alan Blease).

She worked for 30 years for the Upjohn Company in Food Service and Manufacturing.

Candi and Randy both served our country in the US Navy. I went to Pensacola Christian College. Mom was supportive in each decision and they visited as much as possible.

We all have so many awesome memories of her. She was the best Wife, Mom, Grandma, Sister, Aunt, Co-worker, Community and Church Member that she could possibly be.

One of her favorite memories is the times she spent with her 10 Grandchildren (Dominique, Damon, Sam, Jacob, Sawyer, Tyler, Aiden, Trent, Easton, & Kaylin). She especially enjoyed the personal time with them, but Facetime and phone calls had to do at times. She loved kids so much, her siblings children were special to her as well as she would talk about them as if they were her Grandchildren.

Mom loved pets, she had several dogs throughout her life. At different times, we also had Guinea Pigs, Parrot, and a cat.

Mom had an interest in sports because all of us kids had some interest, she played on her work Softball team before suffering an ankle injury. Though there was pain, she was tough and recovered. If we had an event, she was there no matter the distance.

Mom was always involved, she was not one to sit back and watch. One of her favorite hobbies was making cakes, she made many throughout her life (including the cakes for her children’s weddings). If there was an event going on at Church, in her Community, she was involved by serving.

Mom was a life saver, I know there were times that she dealt with an issue with one of us kids and acted as though no one else would know. We knew that Mom loved us and wanted the best for us, even when we messed up. We could always call and give us the best advice, even if we didn’t think so at the time.

Dad used to race motorcycles and was an avid rider. Mom and Dad would often take short trips and loved the time they spent together.

Mom loved to travel, Saturday, March 25, 2017 would be there 50th Anniversary. My Uncle John, Aunt Kathy, Dad, & Mom took a train trip out west to celebrate earlier this year that was one of her highlights. Much of her desired travels were to be with her Grand-kids. Whether it was for a birth, birthday, graduation or wedding she did all she could to be there. Recently they even purchased an RV to make travel even more enjoyable. We always took vacations together. We had a camper for small weekend trips and then went onto a boat that we visited every weekend on Lake Michigan. Time spent together as a family was what she longed for.

In 2006 she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer and it was metastasized to her bones. She received radiation several times throughout the years. Soon, they made the choice to go to Florida for the winters so that it would be better for her bones. She desired to be in the area that her Dad had previously lived for about 20 years plus. The last 2 years they made North Myers, Florida their full time home. Some years ago we had plans to come down for Christmas and found out that Mom was really ill, I remember wanting to get out of dodge and be right there for her. It was an awesome time once we got there and it seemed to be just what she needed. There would be other times where we prayed about Mom’s condition because news wasn’t always the best. She didn’t always share the news because we knew it was tough and knew that she was even tougher. She had some recent issues that she was going through and prayers were there.

On Thursday, March 9th my Dad had just taken her to Burger King for breakfast, a new Burger King that they had come to enjoy. She was then on the way to the beautician when Mom suddenly did not know where she was going or who people were. Dad called and had her taken to the Emergency Room. They diagnosed her with Global Amnesia, something that may soon go away. I talked to Mom that day and she was so upset and confused. Later that night, they found a lesion on her brain and she would have radiation the next week. My sister who lives within an hour away stopped down and was able to help my Mom relax. I had an event going on the next day out of town. I called her as I was going out of town and she had just been released from the hospital. I was relieved to know that Mom had fought another battle and had won, just like she always had. I called her just before my overnight event only to find out she was not doing good again. My heart sank and I was speechless, she was upset and I just didn’t know what to say. I knew this event was going to be tough, but this added a whole new degree of difficulty. My sister came through again and stopped down to assist. I finished the event filled with emotion wondering through the whole event how was she doing. I called her when I was alone on the way home and talked for 10 minutes or more and things seemed like they were great. The next two days were tough and she ended up back in the hospital, I knew it was ok because we were praying and knowing that she would be at full strength again soon. Wednesday ended being her worse day and by the weekend they found out she had a stroke and was having several mini strokes. They were going to try to give her some blood thinners and only gave her a 20% of recovering. They were not going to do a radiation treatment. I wanted to come down right away, but Dad wanted to make sure I was there at the right time. Found out my brother was headed down soon and that I should look into arrangements. When I did, flights were crazy and so I called him. He had picked up my nephew on the way down and offered to pick me up. We arrived early Monday am. Before I could get to the room, I could hear my Mom was in pain. I knew right away this was not good. We opted later that day to send her to Hospice to keep her comfortable because the hospital could no longer help. I stayed the night with her and had several words of thankfulness for her throughout the night. Tuesday night things were really declining, but she did not want to let go. We did not want her to go, but we were ready for the pain to leave her body. Around 2:30am Wednesday am she went to join her Dad and others that had proceeded her in heaven. We miss her on earth, but know that one day we will be with her again!

I workout with an awesome group of guys called F3 or as Mom would call it 3F. She knows it was something that was special to me and we would talk about it often. We all get nicknames on our first post, I believe that if I had anything to do with it she would have been named Tough Cookie.