Kathy A. Haidley

Kathy A. Haidley

May 25, 1950- August 26, 2024

Kathy Anne Haidley (Ridder) was born in Westmoreland, Kansas, to Merlyn and Dorothy Ridder, May 25, 1950. Kathy was the second of eight children raised on a farm outside of Flush. Her family raised cattle in the prairie of the Flint Hills, where she spent days riding horses, conducting cow rodeos, and chasing her siblings.

After high school, Kathy moved to Kansas City to pursue her career in nursing where she graduated as an RN and got her start in what became a lifelong calling in helping people, ultimately impacting the lives of thousands of children and their families. During these early years, Kathy worked at Children’s Mercy Hospital and met her first husband, Ralph Summers. During their marriage, Kathy and Ralph were blessed with three daughters, Jennifer, Erin, and Kristy. Staying home and raising her girls became the central focus and pride of Kathy’s life. She was an accomplished snuggler, shuttled kids around to sports, planned haunted houses, and led Brownie Troops. She spent long summers supervising by the pool with a bowl full of shelling peas, twinkie cake, and a pitcher of Kool-Aid. She never turned down a live performance of the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas record. When the girls were older, she returned to nursing, taking a job at Childcare Limited, where she stayed for many years and built long standing relationships and friendships.

Kathy eventually moved to Omaha after the girls had left home and started working in home health care, before getting back to her roots at Children’s Physicians. It was while working here that she met her second husband, Jim Haidley, to whom she has been married for the past 18 years. This marriage gave her the opportunity to expand her heart and family to include Jim’s kids: David, Deanna, and John, and their spouses, as well as his grandkids: Bryce, Darren, Sophia, James, and Taz.

Retirement came in 2015, after which Kathy filled her life with the things that brought her the most joy. Her volunteer work centered around adding kindness into the world and taking help and comfort to those who needed it. She had an uncanny ability to meet people where they needed her most and doing so with poise, love, and humor. Some highlights of that work include mission trips to Guatemala, driving cancer patients, volunteering in her grandchildren’s school library and classrooms, and as the coordinator for her church’s Homebound Eucharistic Ministry. But perhaps her greatest joy in retirement was traveling and adventuring with her husband, her daughters, and her grandchildren, Max, Jackson, Gus, Kennedy, and Linken to Maine, Alaska, and beyond.

Kathy leaves a legacy of extreme warmth, kindness, and humor. She loved to spend hours on video calls or sending hamster memes with her grandchildren. She could walk on the beach for miles taking in the air and the salt and the waves. She loved to attend the events and shows for her grandchildren. She was a Chiefs fan, a puzzle wizard, a Saturday morning coffee buddy. Her daughters called “Nurse Grammy” whenever a grandchild was sick. She sewed Halloween costumes, sang oldies into wooden spoons in the kitchen, and started sock wars she almost never lost. She could quiet a crying baby in a way that no one could ever figure out how to duplicate. She was so many things to all those who loved her. She was a wife, a “Grammy,” a mom, an aunt, a sister, a lifelong friend, a healer, and, perhaps most of all, she was a steady hand for anyone who needed someone to walk beside them.

Kathy is survived by her husband, Jim Haidley; her daughters: Jen (Erich) Ross, Erin (Andrew Winslow) Summers, and Kristy (Isaac Van Houten) Summers; and her grandchildren: Jackson and Kennedy Ross, Max and Gus Winslow, and Linken Van Houten. She also leaves behind siblings: Linda (Don) Morris, Micki (Ron) Suther, Bev (Glenn) Herrman, Larry (Darla) Ridder, Annette (Larry) Dortch, and Rick (Michelle) Ridder. She will be missed by many nieces, nephews, and friends.

MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL: Tuesday, September 3, 2024, at 11:00 AM with Nebraska Nurse Honor Guard Presentation and VISITATION from 10:00AM-11:00 AM at St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church, 16701“S” Street.

Memorials are suggested to IXIM or to St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church.

To view a live broadcast of the Mass, please visit www.heafeyheafey.com and click the “Live Cast” button at the top of the home page.