Angels Camp, CA…Kathryn (Kay) Runkle went home to be with our Lord Jesus on Sunday afternoon, June 4, 2017. Born on October 30, 1916, she lived 100 and a half incredible years. It was as if she were waiting until her chicks gathered around her: her daughter Kathi (Doug) Grover of Murphys, grandson Derik (Angela) and great-grandson Dakota Grover of Watsonville, grandson Dustin (Lauren) Grover of Cameron Park, and granddaughter Kendra Grover Schultz of Sterling, VA. Her son Clifford Runkle of Carson City, NV, was unable to come, as was her grandson-in-law, Jeff Schultz with great grandsons Lukas and Mikah of Sterling, VA. They shared memories, sang hymns, and prayed at her bedside. She was preceded in death by her husband, Albert Runkle.

Kay is remembered for being generous, adventurous, creative, talented, smart, smiley, devoted, selfless, resourceful, determined to stay young, rosy-cheeked, and lovely. She was the daughter of Oklahoma pioneers, Harry and Mary Alice Drake. She grew up on a diversified farm near the OK-KS border along the Cimarron River, the fifth of six children. Besides growing wheat and alfalfa, her dad had a small dairy and also raised beef cattle. Her parents, having little formal education, were determined that all their children receive college degrees, which they all completed, during or after the Great Depression. Kay obtained her Library Science degree from Emporia State University in Kansas and a BA in American Literature from Oklahoma State. After working a few years and touring Europe (1939) she enlisted as an officer in the United States Navy WAVES (1942). While in the service she fell in love with an Army officer, Albert Runkle, from Millbrae, CA. They were married in December, 1944.

They raised their two children, Cliff and Kathi, in Millbrae. In 1958, Kay began her 18 year tenure as librarian at Taylor Intermediate School where she wrote and received a grant for the library to become a Model Media Center. Besides being a committed librarian, she was a devoted wife and mother, and later a grandmother and great-grandmother. She was a lover of hugs, a faithful friend, a skilled Bridge player, a gracious hostess, a talented seamstress and quilter, a master gardener, creative in the kitchen, an avid reader, a rider of roller coasters, a rafter of the Colorado River, a world traveler, a zippy “airport taxi”, forever a community volunteer, especially for the underprivileged and for seniors through local government, San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame award recipient, Millbrae Woman of the Year, member and past president of PEO women’s organization, member and past chairman of United Methodist Women in Millbrae, a determined walker (after two hip surgeries)…Kay shined wherever she went. Cliff remembers many times when she used her natural engineering skills to create adaptive devices to help make life easier for him.

The family wishes to thank the staff at Foothill Village, Skyline Place, Avalon Care Center of Sonora, and Hospice of the Sierra, as well as her doctors, loyal friends, and caregivers for their support and care during her time in Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties.

A special family “Remembering Time” will be at Lake Alpine on Saturday, August 5, 2017. A “Coffee Hour” Memorial will be held at New Vision United Methodist Church in Millbrae on Sunday morning, August 13, 2017, at 10:45.
Contributions may be made to Hospice of the Sierra, 20100 Cedar Road North, Sonora, CA 95370 or New Vision United Methodist Church, 450 Chadbourne Avenue, Millbrae, CA 94030.