Katherine Ellen (Harrison) West

Some people build great structures, bridges or parks to keep their memory alive in the minds and hearts of the people who knew them.

Anyone who knew her knew that Katie West built relationships.  Person by person, interaction by interaction she impacted the lives of the people that God brought into her life.

Katie was a Chicago girl, transplanted to Cowden over 70 years ago…the year after she married Jim West.  They moved to a farm two miles north of Cowden where they lived the rest of their lives.

Katie and Jim quietly and with great intention raised their three children…Lisa, Neal and Ann…right there in the treasures of a simple farm life.  They learned to value family and nature, the joy of knowing a job was well done, the practice of treating people with dignity and by example…the way to really, really love one another.

Then when her children married Robert, Jeanie and Nick her love circle expanded to impact each of their lives.  When grandchildren came along…Laura, Amanda, Jackie, Brian, Brice, Luke, Rick, Robin and Stephen…Katie deeply invested in each of their lives making Grandma’s house, the farm, and the pond the place that they still all want to be if any one of them gets to come home.

In the last 15 years she was excited to add 21 great-grandchildren to her list of people to love and enjoy greatly.

All of us have one thing in common…Katie West touched our lives…whether it was through family ties, PTA or Girl Scouts, her influence on the school board or the Shelby County Art Show, the Cowden Centennial or at Kaskaskia Church.

But there is one more thing that defines Katie West…her passion for art and her desire to instill the joy of the artistic process into the lives of as many people as possible.  At any and every request she received she shared her gift of art unselfishly.  How many of us are sitting in churches this Christmas season surrounded by beautiful murals she and Lisa painted and gave to the congregations?  I wonder how many plays and musicals we all attended in the past that were performed with sets painted by Katie and her art students?

For many, many years Katie and Lisa taught art to unknown numbers of children within a hundred-mile radius of Cowden.  How many of us have treasured pictures hanging in our homes done by children who sat week after week around the kitchen table of Katie’s home, or later around tables in church basements while Katie guided them patiently to do just a little bit better on their picture???

What does one do with the legacy that we all have received from a life well lived?  I think Katie would say, “What you have freely received, freely give!!” and I know she would say, “Just do it!!” So now, as we travel our individual life’s paths from this moment on, it is our turn to be intentional about passing on the legacy that she has planted in each of our hearts, so that her quiet but powerful influence will live on in many generations to come.

Funeral services for Katie will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, December 19, 2022, in the Kaskaskia Church, 1845 E 2700 Avenue, Beecher City, with Pastor Nick Robertson officiating.  Burial will take place in Mound Cemetery in rural Cowden.  Visitation will be held from 3:00-6:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 18, 2022, in Lockart-Green Funeral Home in Cowden.  Lockart-Green Funeral Home in Cowden is assisting the family.

Family and friends are invited to light a candle or share a story at www.lockartgreenfuneralhome.com.

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