Kathy Elmer

Mary Kathleen Elmer, née Whitehead, née Clarke, age 67, of Colorado Springs, beloved mother, passed away on June 27, 2021, in Pueblo, CO. She was born in Takoma Park, MD, May 23, 1954, the fourth of four daughters of the late Luke and Mabel Clarke.

Kathy attended Shenandoah Valley Academy in VA in 1969 then graduated from Braxton County High School in WV in 1973. After graduation, she married Thomas Elmer in 1973 and had a son, Thomas Elmer II. As a military family, they lived in MO, TX, and MD. After their divorce, she would live in VA and then move with her son to Muskogee, OK in 1978 to be with her parents. Later she would remarry to Ralph Whitehead in 1979 and they would move to CA in 1984 and have a daughter, Ruth Ann Whitehead born prematurely who died soon after she was born. After their separation, she would move to CO in 1999 to be with her sister. She moved into the Acacia Apartments in downtown Colorado Springs in 2003 where people came to know her as Mary K.

Throughout her life, she had many vocations, but five constants: education, healing, nature, art, and her Seventh-day Adventist faith. She worked as a bookbinder, substitute teacher, art teacher, school secretary, bus driver, and school nurse. In OK, she worked as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), and in CA, she worked as a Home Health Aid. She always loved nature and over the years people would bring her injured animals, which she would nurse back to health, from possums to one-legged crows. Some of her favorite memories were trips to see the national parks. Starting in 1990, she worked as a receptionist for The Quiet Hour religious broadcast. Growing up with a father who was an artist, naturally she painted in oil paints her entire life. Many people and doctor’s offices have been recipients of paintings given as thank you gifts. During the last year, she painted a series of almost 100 watercolors for her son, commemorating memorable places they had been.

She is survived by her loving son, Thomas Wayne Elmer II, of Westmont, IL; one remaining sister, Deborah Waddell of Colorado Springs, CO; and nieces and nephews.

"Her sense of humor is missed by all."

Visitation will take place July 11, 2021, from 12:00-3:00PM, at Swan-Law Funeral Directors, 501 North Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs. The memorial service will follow at 3:00PM.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to your local animal rescue / rehabilitation shelter.