Tami was the third child born to Clifton and Sue (Barry) Sexton on December 31, 1963 in Kansas City, MO and she grew up on a small parcel of land in Harrisonville, Mo. Tami would talk about picking blueberries, feeding the chickens and taking care of their pig, Wishes, before being allowed to swim in the pond or ride bikes with her lifelong friend Wanda. Even as a child, Tami had the travel bug in her. She would frequently call her Grandparents and "make them" take her with them on their weekend trips to Branson. Tami was also known to somehow get herself occasionally included in her friend Wanda’s family vacation. Tami's family later moved to Grandview, Mo. where she graduated from Ruskin High School. Tami met her husband Mical through a mutual friend and the two clicked immediately.
Tami later went to work for Hy Vee and participated in the opening of the first Hy Vee in the Kansas City area. Tami went on to become a front-end manager at Hy Vee and worked at the stores in Raytown, Leawood and Lee's Summit. Tami’s love for the elderly was obvious when she worked at John Knox Village. She loved listening to their stories and be it taking Thanksgiving dinner to a childless widower or helping one of them locate their dentures she always placed them first. She would frequently come home gushing about the sweetest resident she had visited with that day and Mical had to continually remind her that she couldn't just bring them home like they were a stray puppy. Tami loved the elderly, babies, Boston Terriers, the beach, hunting for the perfect seashell, dolphins, planting flowers, racing her family to see who could get the first hummingbird or Baltimore Oriole, and traveling, in no particular order. It can honestly be said that Tami never knew a stranger, only people she'd hadn't met yet. It didn't matter if you were the Commanding Officer of a nuclear submarine she’d bump into in the passageway, an elderly widow that she sat next to in a restaurant in Killin, Scotland, Kiefer Sutherland dancing in a Blues club in Memphis who she hollered at and ordered to come over to her table so she could prove to Mical that it was really him (he did and it was), a fellow cancer patient sitting alone at a Tiki Bar in Fort Myer Beach, or two young ladies on a girls trip that she cornered on a whale watching excursion off the coast of Maine, she would leave with your life story AND your contact information. Tami's curiosity knew no bounds. When Mical would leave the house the last words she would call out as he was walking out the door were always "Bring me back some gossip!" As Tami strength was slipping, she would spend her time enjoying a good book, playing on her Kindle, or trying, in vain, to teach Mical where things were located in the kitchen and what their purpose was.
Tami was preceded in death by her father, Clifton Sexton; and younger brother, Joseph Thornton.
She is survived by her husband, Mical of Lee's Summit, MO.; mother, Sue Thornton of Peculiar, MO; sister, Donna Sexton of Kansas City, MO; brother, Terry (Barb) Sexton of Peculiar, MO; sister, Cassie (Matthew) Todd of Mountain Grove, MO; and sister-in-law, Sheryl (Kelly) Foreman of Overland Park, KS. She is also survived by Aunts, Uncles, and many cousins, nephews and nieces. Lastly, if you knew her as Tami, Tam, popsicle lady, or the snack queen she leaves behind many, many, dear friends.
The family would like to publicly acknowledge and thank her Oncologist, Dr. Jacob Smeltzer and the unbelievable staff of Angels that work at St. Luke’s East Oncology for the genuine love, compassion, and caring they showed to Tami and Mical the last few years.
A visitation will be held from 1-2 PM, service 2 PM, on Tuesday, December 27, at Floral Hills Funeral Home, 7000 Blue Ridge Blvd, Kansas City, MO. Burial will follow at Floral Hills Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family strongly urges donations to the American Cancer Society, www.donate3.cancer.org. Additionally, the family request that you perform a random act of kindness for someone you "haven't met yet" who is less fortunate than yourself. Please do these in honor of Tami.
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