Kathleen (McCaughey) Lively, 85, of Columbia, Missouri passed away on March 12, 2024. Kathleen, who went by Kathy for much of her life, was born in Kansas City, Kansas on December 28, 1938, to Samuel and Mary (Coe) McCaughey.
Kathleen graduated from Wyandotte High School and earned a business degree from the University of Kansas. Her employment history included years of teaching adult business courses and working, until age 79, at the clothing store Chico’s, where she greatly appreciated the employee discount.
When Kathleen was a toddler, her mother died from an accidental fall. One month later, Pearl Harbor was bombed, Kathleen’s father was drafted into the Navy, and Kathleen went to live with a series of relatives. After serving, her father married a woman Kathleen loved, but the marriage failed and Kathleen was sent away again. She returned when her father married a third time.
To escape her tumultuous home, during her childhood and teenage years, Kathleen walked alone to church every Sunday. She met Hardin Ramsey there and they dated throughout high school and college. The couple married in 1960, then Major Ramsey became an Air Force pilot, and moved his growing family from base to base.
After settling in Columbia, Missouri, Hardin was unexpectedly deployed to fly rescue missions during the Vietnam War. Four days before Kathleen was to see Hardin, an Air Force car pulled into her driveway and she immediately knew that she was now a widow with four young children. She was devastated and wept for two days, but on the third she experienced a depth of supernatural love and peace she’d never known. Even in her grief, she felt joy and spoke of God’s love to everyone who came to comfort her.
Less than four years later, she learned of a pastor whose wife had died. Kathleen understood his pain, so prayed for Bob Lively and his three children for months, not knowing that his family had prayed for hers after reading of Hardin’s death. God brought Bob and Kathleen together, but a month elapsed between their first and second dates because Bob was overwhelmed by the question of how to meet the needs of a family of nine on a pastor’s salary.
God assured Bob He would provide, so by faith, on their third date, Bob proposed. God was faithful to His promise and supplied a seven-bedroom home with a mortgage of less than $200, daily food for nine people, college for seven children, and patience during the year all seven were teenagers. When combining homes, Kathleen discovered Bob’s silverware pattern was the same as her own. They had 20 place settings and a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness.
As a gift to Bob, Kathleen commissioned a plaque featuring Bob’s favorite Christian symbol, a ram with its horns caught in a thicket, with the words, from Genesis 22, “The Lord Will Provide.” Approximately 40 years later, one of their children realized that by removing two letters of each last name (Lively and Ramsey), what remains is “Live Rams.”
In addition to caring for seven children, Kathleen cared for others by inviting hurting people to live in their home, leading Bible studies for 50+ years, and serving international college students, for whom she had compassion and empathy due to her loneliness while living in Libya.
In her autobiography, Kathleen wrote, “More and more each day, I sense how difficult life is. There is pain and suffering all around us. I simply couldn’t make it without my relationship with Jesus.” She lost her mother while a toddler, suffered a difficult childhood, lost her first husband to war, a daughter to cancer, and her second husband one year shy of their 50th anniversary, yet never shook her fist at God, because she knew He was her source of comfort. “My heart’s desire is to always be willing to tell my story to anyone who will listen. After Hardin’s death, I wondered what life was about. God answered, ‘Life is knowing me and telling others that I’m real.’”
Kathleen made some requests regarding her memorial service. She wanted it to be a Christ-centered time of worship, with the primary emotion being joy rather than grief. Also, in place of black, she’d love for everyone to wear color. Bonus points for accessorizing with animal print.
Kathleen was preceded in death by her parents, her first husband Hardin Ramsey, her second husband Bob Lively, her daughter Pam Ramsey, and her son-in-law Dan McLaughlin. She is survived by her children, Martha McLaughlin, Gary (Renay) Ramsey, Luanne (John) Marshall, Ron (Kim) Ramsey, Phil (Shari) Lively, and Kathleen (John) Baurichter; her grandchildren, Caleb, Lucas, Blake, Brandon, Rachel, Mical, Philip, Seth, Reese, Reilly, Cameron, Katherine and Josh; and her great-grandchildren Kyra, Ember, and Faryn.
A worship service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Memorial Baptist Church, 1634 Paris Road, Columbia, MO 65201. Visitation will precede the service at 9:00 a.m. For the sake of those with allergies, the family kindly requests that guests strive to be fragrance free. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donating to the Friends International ministry of Memorial Baptist Church.
Arrangements are under the direction of Nilson-Millard Cremation and Burial Center, 5611 E. St Charles Road, Columbia, MO 65202 (573) 474-8443. Condolences may be left online for the family at www.nilsonfuneralhome.com.
Posted online on March 17, 2024
Published in Columbia Daily Tribune
