Kimberly Sue Irvin

Kimberly was born to Don and Sue Heintzelman on August 22, 1962 in Olympia, Washington; and died at home in Redmond, Oregon March 30, 2020. She is survived by her husband Ray Irvin, daughter Bree Kanna, her mother Sue, and her sisters Dena Case, Brenda Coleman, and her brother Kenneth Heintzelman. Though Kim died unexpectedly four months ago, with Covid restrictions finally relaxing enough for us to meet, this memorial service is on her birthday, and what better day than this to celebrate her amazing life! Kim was always an adventurer, a bit of a free spirit, and loved to be outside. She travelled to various locations around the world like Tahiti, Fiji, the Caribbean, Bahamas, Mexico, Italy, Southeast Asia, Portugal, Spain, Israel, and other places including Banda Aceh, Indonesia where she went on a mission trip to help in any way she could after the big tsunami. She loved travel and adventure so much several times she very nearly became a flight attendant just to get around better, and more cheaply. Frugal she was too, organized and smart about her travel and packed lightly. As a young girl she was a bit of a tomboy, spending time riding her bike until dark, preferring to be outside rather than in, and that was true her entire life. She loved backpacking, rafting, and cycling, whether it was on her bike with a pannier or two just shopping around town, or fully loaded on self-supported tours in the San Juan Islands and elsewhere. Kim was very athletic and physically fit. She worked for several years as a physical therapy aid at Rebound in Bend, and was very popular with those she assisted as she was so very kind and funny at the same time, kidding around and making people laugh, but getting the job done and making people instantly comfortable with her. She was industrious and held various jobs in her life from learning to weld and drive forklifts, to being an excellent server or hostess in restaurants, to working retail and stocking in Bi-Mart and Shopko. Another job she had for five years was working as a tour guide on the Alaska Railroad for Royal Celebrity Cruises along with her two sisters for part of that time, helping Alaskan tourists with the vacation of their dreams while she was working on a dream job of her own, experiencing the various inland tours with bears, rafting, sled dog rides, and riding the glass-topped viewing cars through some amazing country. A few years later, after marrying Ray, Kim spent the summer at Grosvenor Lodge, a remote floatplane access only flyfishing lodge in Katmai National Park, Alaska. For the last several years she had another adventure planned and it was her constant hope: to walk the 500 mile El Camino Santiago in Spain. She read many books and watched documentaries on the trail and wanted desperately to go. She'd planned on making the journey this fall but Covid changed both a March trip to Hawaii and the El Camino hike in August. Covid restrictions fell heavy on Kim. Kimberly met her husband Ray Irvin at Deschutes Christian Fellowship in early spring 2002, introduced by mutual friends, as she was preparing to go north to Alaska for her first summer working on the train. They both were born in 1962, raised in Southern Oregon in the Medford area, ended up in Bend about the same time, and a few years later met at the same church. After a couple years dating Ray asked her to marry him but since both had previously been married, she wasn't so sure. After a few years apart and then getting back together Kim finally agreed, saying yes up at the summit of Mt. Bachelor in spring 2012. They were married on May 6, a very short six weeks later. That summer the two worked together at Grosvenor Lodge, which was a honeymoon for him, but not so much for her with the months of seclusion and just a few bugs. Not quite her cup of tea. Kim was a very hard worker wherever she was, industrious around the house inside and out, and was incredibly creative with her decorations, landscaping, and many custom hanging flower baskets, helping to make the house a home. In fact, Ray for many years referred to her as his "Proverbs 31 Woman," something she didn't accept, but indeed Kimberly was that to him. She was always willing to lend a hand to elderly neighbors, even just after having moved into a new house and didn't really know them. She many times helped clean houses when someone was sick or was moving, and she did all this without batting an eye. It brought her joy to help others. It was this caring for others that made her want to help her grandniece who had lost her dad at a very young age and whose mom was struggling with the demands of life. When she was asked to help, Kim wouldn't take no for an answer, there was no debate. And Kim became Mom to 7 year old Bree, doing whatever she could to help: getting her to counseling, doctors, school conferences, dentists, and church, all the usual stuff but at the same time sacrificing her job at Rebound, and much of the free time and dreams she had for the remainder of her life. She was a good mom, as difficult at times as it was, right up until the very end. But of all these traits, experiences, and things we remember about Kimberly, what best describes her is her faith in Christ. Kimberly truly loved the Lord, and loved reading His Word, praying and worshipping with hands raised and eyes closed, singing from her heart to her King. Though for years she daily read the Bible, in 2020 she read and prayed much more diligently, faithfully recording her progress for each day's passages even on the day she died. So for this memorial, we want to remember Kim as she should be remembered: smiling and funny, yes; hard working and meticulously organized, yes; adventurous and outdoorsy, yes; but if only one thing could be said, she would want it to be that she loved Jesus Christ with her whole heart, and more than anything, she would want you to know Him in that saving way too. And if you do know Him and He knows you, there is the absolute confidence in Christ, that we will see her again when we meet our King in glory, where she now is, worshipping Him face to face. No more tears. No more pain. Special verse: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 The Coming of the Lord Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. There will be a Memorial Service on Saturday, August 22, 2020 (Kim's Birthday) at 10:00 am at Highland Baptist Church, with an informal gathering and time of reflection following about five miles west of the church at 19580 West Hwy 126, Redmond.

Kimberly Sue Irvin

August 22, 1962 - March 30, 2020