Kathy Rae Campbell

Kathy Rae was born on Monday, November 16, 1959 at 8:45am in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Neil and Elaine Stueven. She was the oldest of four children and the only girl, but that didn’t keep her from having a deep and loving relationship with her 3 brothers, David, Paul, and Mark, even though she was allowed to stay up later than her brothers on Friday nights when they lived in South Dakota. In 1969 they moved to Las Cruces, NM where she graduated from high school and college. She met her first husband of 26 years in 1981 when she was dispatcher for the Las Cruces campus police. When they graduated college they moved to Albuquerque and they bought their first house in 1984 where she raised all her children until they were out of the house. She married her second husband of 10 years in 2014 and both went to Jesus on the same day 5 hours apart. She is survived by her mom, 3 brothers, 4 children, and 10 grandchildren. 

Her interests were mostly family, but loved being in God’s creation, praying, photography, playing the piano, acoustic and bass guitar, volleyball, playing basketball with her brothers when she was younger, creative writing, journaling, reading books, and listening to others. She learned a lot of sign-language and always wanted to teach def-children. Her favorite beverage was water. A&W root beer was her favorite pop. Her favorite food was her mom’s Swiss steak, her mom’s cinnamon rolls, sauerkraut, mint ice cream, and strawberries. Fall was her favorite season. Her favorite birds were western meadowlarks, hummingbirds, and the Loons from Northern Minnesota. Her favorite state was Minnesota. Favorite book is God’s Word. Her favorite author was Corrie Ten Boom. Her favorite flowers were Sunflowers, lilac, and Stock.

Her most important possession was her Bible as she loved God’s word dearly. It was quite dangerous making her the church bookstore manager because, while unconfirmed, it is suspected that she bought more Bibles and books than all the other shoppers who ever stepped into the store combined.

When she was a little child, she wanted to be a mom and love her children. And so, she did, and she did it well. We sacrifice dearly for the things we love and those that are important to us. She sacrificed her master’s degree, her career, and societal status to raise her children. Regarding these sacrifices she said, “I’m glad I quit my job to stay at home with you kids, that the Lord provided a way for us to do that… I got lots of pressure about not getting my master’s degree and go into a career in speech-language pathology. I also got lots of pressure about not working. It was all worth it…What I learned about being a parent is that you sacrifice for your children because you love them.” Her proudest moment as a parent was seeing her children walk with Jesus. 

In her own words, the following people had a profound influence on life: her grandpa Luhman who always gave God glory, her grandma Luhman who was always hospitable, her Mom who was always for her, her piano teacher, Mrs. Brown, who knew what she could do and how to get the best out of her for her good, her Aunt Sandy who always would listen, and Juanita Hall (her Pastor’s wife) who could also get the best out of people for good.

Her first love (of highest importance that is) was her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and her second was everyone else. Her commitment to her family was nothing short of extraordinary. But whether you knew her as daughter, sister, mother, grammy, friend, or acquaintance, she had the God given gift to make you feel like you were the only person in the world she cared for. She had a listening ear, a servant’s heart, and the best hugs. 

She was faithful in all seasons of life – on the mountain tops of success and in the darkest valley of suffering. Words fail to describe how God has used her in other people’s lives for His glory. It doesn’t feel like she was here long enough, but she made the best of the time she had here. Even when her primary progressive aphasia was advanced and took her speech and cognitive abilities, she still lit up the room with her dancing, facial expressions and lighthearted interactions. Though her body failed her in her last several years of life, she still had the ability to make others laugh by taking the pens used to sign in at the front desk and laughing at her reflection in the mirror. Her personality still shined through the darkness. What a great comfort it is to know she is now praising Jesus with so many other loved ones in heaven. One of her favorite verses seems fitting for this moment of reflection, For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Mom was all about seizing every moment and making a memory. Don’t take time for granted. 

She collected spoons everywhere she visited and the final and most significant addition to her collection was gained on January 11 when she entered into glory. 

Her celebration of life was held at Calvary Rio Rancho on January 14, 2024 at 11:00AM. 

If you were unable to join us for the service you can watch it by following the link below.

https://youtube.com/@calvaryrioranchonewmexico8527?si=NtER1pBRV6wHEvWr