She loved being a grandmother: Family remembers woman hit, killed on Hillside

Ryan Dame vividly remembers Sunday trips to tour open houses in Wichita with his mother, Kathy Dame, when he was a child.

She had a love for architecture, especially for the homes in the 1920s and 1930s and in College Hill and Riverside. She went on to be a Realtor.

“She was definitely a Wichita girl,” said her mother, Honey Keck. “She loved her children (and grandchildren). She was very, very family oriented.”

The 62-year-old died Tuesday evening in the hospital while surrounded by family. She had been hit by a vehicle while she was walking on Hillside near Oakland around 7:35 p.m. Sunday. The driver was headed north on Hillside.

A memorial will be announced at a later date.

Family remembered her as being upbeat, family oriented and a lover of the Kansas City Chiefs and Wichita State University basketball.

“She was really caring with her relationships,” said Ryan Dame, her son.

He said she also enjoyed live concerts and shows and at one point was a member of the Candle Club, which does live shows with dinner, he said.

As a family, a favorite birthday celebration dinner was going to Kobe Steak House of Japan. Kobe and Scotch and Sirloin were her favorite restaurants, he said.

Kathy Dame was born and raised in Wichita. She graduated from Southeast High School, where she cheered, in 1981, family said.

She briefly attended the University of Kansas, but then left and got married. She later went back to school at Wichita State University, doing night classes and eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2000, according to family and school records.

She went on to hold different jobs before becoming a Realtor, a job family said she loved.

But her favorite thing was spending time with family. She loved being a grandmother.

“She loved them,” Ryan Dame said. “She was always very excited to see them.”

Her children have set up a GoFundMe to try and raise money for a “proper memorial and burial on the same plot with her brother and sister in Kansas City.” The fundraiser can be found at shorturl.at/529yO.

She is survived by her mother, Honey Keck; children, Ryan Dame and Danielle Abele (husband Landon) and grandchildren, Aubree and Kale. She is preceded in death by her father, William Keck, and siblings Bill and Susan Keck.