Mrs. Kayte Pearl Garner

On a farm, in Mound Bayou, a small town in the Mississippi Delta, a miracle happened to Henry Kemp and Ollie Anderson, as they welcomed a daughter, Katye Pearl Kemp, on March 13, 1938. She would be the middle child of three brothers and eight sisters. As she grew up, she attended the neighborhood school, and Mound Bayou High School, graduating in 1958, while attending to duties on the family farm, which included picking cotton during the hot summer. Upon graduating from high school, she decided that picking cotton in hot weather wasn’t for her, so she left. First, for Newport News, Virginia; then, for Columbia, Missouri. While she enjoyed Virginia, she found Columbia not quite to her liking, so she headed north, to Chicago, Illinois. Little did she know that her life would change forever there, as she met her future husband, Robert Garner. The two were married in 1963, and, out of that union came their son, Rodney, three years later. In 1984, Katye’s life would undergo yet another everlasting change, when she was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, on September 29, 1984. From that date forth, Katye was devoted in her service to Jehovah; her fervor was especially noted by her congregation, and elders. She was a long-time member of the Roseland congregation, and was in the Dolton congregation, until her passing. Katye worked for a time at Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital (where she met her future husband), Bell and Howell, and Bally Manufacturing, where, for twenty years, she served in a supervisory role, as group leader. She retired from Bally in 1989. She and Robert eventually retired to South Holland, Illinois, where she continued to enjoy her life, and her hobbies of gardening, and fixing things around the house. Robert unfortunately passed away, on March 17, 2000. Their union lasted 36 years. On November 18, 2022, Katye fell asleep in death, in the company of family. To say that she will be missed, not only by her son and his wife, but family and friends, as well, is an understatement. Wherever she went, whomever she met, she touched the souls of people in a forever positive light. Katye leaves behind, to cherish her memory: Rodney (Susan); her brother, Alfred Kemp (Dorothy); sisters Bertha Sultan, Barbara Martin, and Lena Marie Stallworth; cousins, dozens of nieces and nephews, and a host of friends. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her brothers Henry Kemp and Charles Anderson; and sisters Jennye Fisher, Rudell Brown, LaDorothy Lusby, and Carrie Williams.

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Mrs. Kayte Pearl Garner

March 13, 1938 - November 18, 2022