Kathleen Ann Maling

Kathleen Anne Maling
Aug 31, 1960 - Dec 26, 2014
Kathleen Anne Maling was born to Robert and Mary
James on Aug 31, 1960 in Dayton, Ohio. Kathy was
the third of four children born to Robert and Mary.
She grew up an Air Force brat, moving every three or
four years, living at the Air Force Academy in
Colorado and several places in California, finally
landing in Lompoc, California, in 1973, where her
dad retired from the Air Force at Vandenberg AFB.
Soon after moving to Lompoc, when Kathy was 13,
she tragically lost her mother to a brain aneurism.
She and siblings Michael, Jennifer, Linda were joined
by a brother, Joe, when Robert married his current
wife, Cynthia in 1978.
Not long after her mother's death, the family joined
the Apostolic church in Lompoc, where she met her
first husband, Terry (Rose) Lavios. Terry and Kathy
were married in 1979, when they were 19. Two years
later their first child Julie was born, Amanda was
born two years after that, and finally four years later
Amy was born.
In 1989 Kathy and Terry divorced, and she moved the
girls and herself to southern California. She spent
the next 12 years living in a spiritual community in
Long Beach CA, where she worked as a minister and
teacher, helping the poor.
In 2002 she moved to North Idaho to be with her
siblings Michael and Jennifer, and her daughter
Julie. Over the next few years, she lived in Hayden,
Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls. She worked at many
things while in Idaho, including customer service,
sales, and at a community health clinic, again
serving the poor. In 2004, she was joined in North
Idaho by her daughter Amanda. After Amanda and
Scott married in 2007, they all lived together in Post
Falls, until moving to Beaverton, Oregon later that
same year. In Oregon, Kathy worked as a staffing
agent for a home health agency.
In 2009 she became a grandmother for the first time
to Isabel (Ella) Nichola Buffington. When Amanda
went back to work, Kathy took care of Ella full time
during the week and whenever else was needed. In
February 2013 she became a grandmother for the
second time to Sophia Helen Buffington.
During this time, both Kathy and Amanda started
ballroom dancing at Arthur Murray Academy in
Beaverton, which they enjoyed immensely. Kathy's
favorite dance was the waltz, which she danced so
beautifully she impressed the professionals. While
dancing, she met her second husband Jerry Maling.
He danced right into her heart, and they wed
January 13, 2012. Kathy was inspired by Jerry's
faith to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints. She was baptized on May 28,
2011, and endowed on October 26, 2013.
As a kid - and all of her life - Kathy enjoyed reading,
and designing and sewing clothes. Later, she also
came to enjoy interior decorating (and redecorating,
and redecorating...). And of course she loved
spending time with her children and grandchildren.
In November of 2013, she found out she had a rare
form of cancer. Shortly after her diagnosis, Kathy's
daughter Amy moved to Hillsboro to help care for
her. After battling for over a year, she succumbed to
the disease on December 26, 2014.
Kathy was a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother
and grandmother, who touched many people's lives.
She was always committed to helping whomever she
met in any way she could, and she dedicated her life
to that worthy cause: helping others. She loved her
kids and grandkids with all her heart. She always
said she felt so lucky to have met her amazing
husband, Jerry, who took on her kids and grandkids
as his own. We will all miss her light, love, and
friendship in our lives, and we know that very light,
love, and friendship will always be in our hearts and
expressed in the lives of those she loved and
touched.