Post #555697 by mieko on Thu, Sep 23, 2010 2:17 PM

On 2010-09-23 13:28, Cammo wrote:
(Please copy mine and add/change anything you'd like to this)
Kate had a job as an order fulfillment manager at a surgical supply warehouse. (Correct me if I’m wrong, please!) This always struck me as a classic 1950’s job, working in a bare-bones building under fluorescent lights, typing all day. You’d expect Rock Hudson to walk in and start complaining about year end quotas, with big zig-zag charts.

Kate moved jobs and had most recently been working at Kohl's in their distribution center. I think she had been there between 2-3 years. She loved her job and her co-workers a lot.
Kohl's medical coverage for Kate was incredible. The month long hospital stay she had in December/January cost Kate a few hundred dollars out of pocket. Most of her visits and so many of the drugs she was on were mostly covered by insurance. Even though she had missed working for most of 2010, they were super supportive of getting her on disability, and making sure her insurance coverage didn't lapse. Her sister even had a call on Monday with someone from the company letting her know that Kate would still be getting a paycheck while on hospice. She had an on-site nurse at her work that she could visit for naps when she got too tired. I will always support Kohl's for how they treated Kate.

Kate went to EVERY Tiki event. At one point you could tell if it was a good event simply because Kate went to it. She was legendary for driving for hours all across California, Hawaii, Nevada, the Blue Ridge Mountains, just to swill a drink and discuss matchbooks. This is all the more amazing, because she was a very shy person at heart.

When I visited Kate, I would often think about the 2 hour drive to get up there. I could rarely get up there before 11am. But Kate was almost always the first person at a chop, getting up as early as she needed to, and driving as long as needed to get there. I always knew that if she could get to chops, then I could manage to go see her.
She really was so very shy, and so nervous about meeting people.

Kate wasn't her real first name, and none of her family call her Kate.