requiescat in pace kassie lee

And so…the light brings with it even more incomprehensible tragedy and grief.

Yesterday evening, two of my oldest, dearest, and most treasured friends from Fresno — Bryan and Cathy Lee — unexpectedly lost their 21 year old daughter, Kassie, to a pulmonary embolism.

It is only natural to lionize and glorify a person upon their passing from this world — to celebrate their character, contributions, achievements, and legacy — even if that means remembering them in a light much rosier than they actually cast here during their life.

That is not so with Ms. Kassie Lee; she has made our job easy.

She was simply one of the most charming, sunny, dynamic, brilliant, ambitious, inspiring young women you could ever hope to meet. Her extraordinary parents imbued her with the very best of themselves (which, if you know these two amazing people, is REALLY saying something), and as a result, Kassie embodied, every single day of her life, what is best in all of us. Among her many achievements…in high school, she was a leader and shining star in the Rainbow Girls service organization, she had just graduated with honors last week from Fresno State with a BA in Mass Communications in Journalism/Advertising, and she also served as the delightful co-host of an awesome, progressive home improvement radio show along with her father, Bryan. The loss of this young woman, not only to her shattered family and friends, but to the entire world, is absolutely incalculable.

Kassie was a young woman who was doing EVERYTHING…and in the future, could have done ANYTHING. She touched more lives, achieved more dreams, did more good, inspired more people, and spread more joy in her short 21 years than most people four times her age do in their entire time on this planet. She was a uniquely amazing young woman — and her absence here is a loss to us all.

All my love and prayers go out to you…Bryan, Cathy, Kaitlyn, Karson, and all the countless others who adored her, were changed by having known her, and will miss her…as you begin to deal with the unimaginable loss of your beautiful, brilliant, extraordinary, unforgettable, irreplaceable Kassie.

Kassandra Lee, 1988-2010.

About muffybolding

Muffy Bolding is a mother/writer/actor/knitter/feminist/withered debutante who likes the smell of asparagus pee, and remains obsessed with the bathroom hygiene of her three children -- despite the fact that they are 23, 19, and 16. She is blissfully married to a cute Jewish boy who looks like Willie Wonka, but remains tragically in love with the dead poet, Ted Hughes. She has the mouth of a Teamster, and her patron saint is Rocco (pestilence relief.) Ms. Bolding lives in Southern California, where she enjoys typing words, making movies, and plucking the rings from the fingers of the dead. She was the co-creator and Editor-in-Chief of the award winning satire zine, Fresno Lampoon, and in between writing screenplays, carnival barking, and savagely threatening her trio of darling larvae with a wooden spoon, she currently publishes the zine, "Withered Debutante." More of her work can also be found in the anthology, "Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts", the compilation zine, "Mamaphiles III: Coming Home", as well as in The Cortland Review and hipmama.com. She is currently writing and producing for film and television, and working on a book of essays entitled, "Inside A Chinese Dragon." She has slept around, but not nearly as much as she would have liked.

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2 Responses to requiescat in pace kassie lee

Nikki says:

June 1, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Thank you so much for you beautiful words. I served as a Grand Officer in IORG with Kassie and she is one of the most uplifting and inspiring people I have ever met. It is so sad that her time was cut short because this girl could accomplish anything. In 1 year as a group of 42 girls led by Kassie we raised over 85,000 dollars for the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. I will miss her very much and I am honored to have known her as a Rainbow sister and friend.Sincerly,Nicole KeadlePast Grand Representative to Washington/Idaho/Australia/Orient Pacific2007 IORG

George says:

June 2, 2010 at 5:41 am

Although, I did not know Kassie Lee it saddens me that a fellow student in our department is no longer with us. I'm currently a senior at Fresno State majoring in Public Relations and I know how a tight-knit group our entire department is. From previous posts via our professors and my advisor, she sounds like a dynamic individual.My deepest thoughts and prayers to the Lee family and those who knew her best.George M. Villagrana