Kathy Evans Dangerfield

On March 13, 2025, Kathy Evans Dangerfield, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, and friend, peacefully but unexpectedly exited this stage of life and entered the next after a brief, two-day illness. Born Kathy Marie Evans 73 years ago in Salt Lake City, Utah, her life was a series of dramatic entrances and exits, but, with apologies to Shakespeare, she was no mere player strutting and fretting her hour upon the stage. As a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Kathy always viewed herself as a divine and eternal daughter of Heavenly Parents. Kathy's parents, Ralph W. Evans, Jr. and Darlene James Evans, raised her in La Mirada, California, where she blossomed into a bright and vivacious young girl who grew up to be a multi-talented adult. As a precocious young child she planned her own second birthday party, already fluent in speaking, and told her Mom who to invite--and who not to invite. Kathy loved to be the dramatic center of attention, as when as a toddler she tried to stand on top of a world globe, stating loudly, "I'm standing on top of the world!" Meantime, the world broke. As a student at La Mirada High School, Kathy excelled at speech, drama and debate, and as a senior she traveled to Washington D.C. for the national championship competition, competing in the extemporaneous speech division. As a young woman, she also learned how to sew and draw and paint and write (and recite!) poetry. What about cooking? Not so much. But encouraged by her mother, Darlene, Kathy also learned to play the piano at a high level of expertise. As a young woman, she was also fortunate to be able to travel to Europe, and she spent time living as a foreign exchange student in Belgium. In fact, Kathy's parents taught their children to be open and welcoming to other people and cultures, and the family often had foreign exchange students of various nationalities living in their home. The broad-minded message apparently hit home, because Kathy's sister Julie eventually married an Austrian and has spent most of her life living abroad. And Kathy's brother David married a German, and also lived abroad for several years. (Kathy would later impart that same open-minded message to her own children, and her youngest son Jonny would marry a Chinese woman and live in China for two years.) After high school, Kathy exited La Mirada and moved on to Provo, Utah to attend Brigham Young University, where in 1973 she earned a Bachelor's degree, magna cum laude with high honors, in Speech and Dramatic Arts, with a minor in English--and a fondness for Shakespeare. While at BYU, she took a creative writing class in which a nice looking young man named Mark sat right behind her. And when she focused her "speech and dramatic arts" skill on him, it didn't take long to turn his head. Fortunately, Mark had sufficient self-esteem not to be overly-deflated when Kathy got an "A" in the class and he didn't. In December, 1972, the young couple (he was 22, she was 21) were married for "time and all eternity" in the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; they would spent the next 52 years together as friends and lovers in a home filled with music, creativity and love. After marriage, the couple didn't hesitate. Despite living on a student budget, they had three children in four years: Ben, David and Edie. Kathy and Mark later added three more children, Genevieve, Julie and Jonny, and eventually found their way to Mesa, Arizona, where they would raise their growing family. Kathy was a devoted and creative mother, always deeply involved in her children's lives. If a child had a big paper or project, Kathy was right by their side helping produce it and making sure it was sufficiently impressive, with lots of charts and visual aids. When one of her children was having serious difficulties in junior high school, Kathy literally attended school everyday with her for most of a year. Failure was not an option. As she often told her children, "Be brave, be bold, be the best, be Dangerfield!" Kathy also made sure there was music in the home, as each child learned to sing or play an instrument. So our home resonated not only with singing, but with the piano, the cello, the violin, the viola, the trumpet and the trombone. In 1983, after Mark became bored with his job, he somehow persuaded Kathy to exit the Valley of the Sun, sell their home, and move to the Boston area so he could attend law school. They had four children at the time. The move meant no income for three years, using up their savings and home equity, and Kathy trying to earn some money doing baby sitting and substitute teaching. A woman of lesser strength would likely have refused to move, dumped Mark, and stayed in the Valley of the Sun. But Kathy had a strong inner strength that belied her small frame, and she agreed to go. The family enjoyed three years in the Boston area, where the kids delightedly experienced snow, visited historical sights and museums, and learned about the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. In 1986, another exit and entrance, as Mark received his law degree and they moved the family back to Mesa, where they have lived ever since. While Kathy's many talents could perhaps have led her to a career in creative drama or the arts, she poured her life force into creating a family grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a home atmosphere of freedom and fun, with some nice surprises along the way. Kathy loved reading, including reading books to her children. She could recite from memory some of her favorite Dr. Seuss books, such as The Lorax and Horton Hears a Who. She also enjoyed both writing and reciting poetry, and friends sometimes received a special poem she had written just for them. Kathy also loved teaching the Relief Society in the local church. When she taught, the class learned to expect the unexpected, such as the day she climbed on the table to make a dramatic point, or the time she wore two sets of clothes and at a certain point removed one set with a flourish; again, to make a point. Kathy's father Ralph was a commercial building contractor, and Kathy inherited some of his construction management skills. So when Kathy and Mark several times decided to do some remodeling on their 1970-ish home, it was Kathy who decided on the details and supervised the construction. She was not hesitant to tell the builders what she wanted. In 2004, with their children starting to marry and have children, her husband Mark started running marathons, aiming to run such in every state and on every continent. Kathy wasn't a runner, but she loved the experiences they shared and the memories made while traveling to each of the 50 states, as well as to China and Sweden and South Africa and Machu Picchu in Peru and even Antarctica. It was an idyllic period of their life. But life has its twists and turns, its exits and entrances, and the last eight years of Kathy's life took a turn for the worse when, at the end of 2016, her heart muscle inexplicably atrophied and the only way doctors could keep her alive was by a serious surgery where they sewed an artificial pump onto her heart. That device took a heavy toll, literally-because she had to wear heavy and ungainly medical equipment 24/7 to keep the heart pump working-and figuratively, because the ordeal of the operation and its aftermath robbed her of much of her independence, strength and vivacity, and eventually led to her too-early final exit from this life and her entrance into the next. But Kathy never complained; she faced each day with grace, gratitude and determination. Kathy is survived by her husband Mark and their six children, Ben of Mesa, Arizona, David (Adrienne Miller) of St. Paul, Minnesota, Edie (Dean Atkinson) of Centerton, Arkansas, Genevieve, of Phoenix, Arizona, Julie (James Martin) of Mesa, Arizona, and Jonny (Amy Wan) of Mesa, Arizona. She is also survived by her four siblings, Julie (Hanno Luschin), Mark, Scott (Emily Oldham), and David (Antje Uchtdorf). Kathy and Mark also have 20 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, with a second grandchild due any day. An informal visitation to celebrate Kathy's life will be held on Friday, March 28, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 2300 W. Javelina in Mesa, Arizona, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. A funeral service will be held the next morning, Saturday, March 29, at the same building at 10:00 a.m. (with a viewing from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m.), followed by a burial service at the Mesa City Cemetery, 1212 N. Center Street, Mesa.