Jessica Marie Gates

1973 - 2021

Jessica Marie Gates
August 11, 1973 - July 11, 2021
Independence, Missouri - Jessica Marie Gates passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, July 11, 2021, at home in Independence, MO. Jessica was born on August 11, 1973, in Kansas City, MO. to Janet "Cookie" Cook and Galen R. Gates, and was a lifelong area resident.
Jessica graduated from Sumner Academy, class of 1991. Because she was so tall and athletic looking, strangers who met her invariably asked if she played basketball. Demonstrating a trait for which she was known all her life, Jessica's witty comeback was "no", I play the clarinet." She was a proud member of Sumner Academy Symphonic Orchestra, Jazz ensemble, and Marching Band.
Upon graduating from Sumner Academy, she was a two-year member of the National Honor Society. Other honors and awards included Kansas State Scholar, Kansas State University Endowment Award, and National Merit Commended Student. She also received a Presidential Scholarship from Kansas City Kansas Community College, where she began the journey to fulfill her dream of becoming a mechanical engineer.
As so often happens, Jessica changed course after a few years, spending the rest of her adult life in the customer service and hospitality businesses in numerous capacities. It was also at this time that one of the greatest assets she possessed since birth truly manifested itself-her love of people and the desire to make everyone's life just little happier and a whole lot better for having entered her sphere of influence.
Jessica met her true love, John Blair Fink, a.k.a. Big Blair, in 1995, and from that relationship, she was blessed with her most precious gifts and assumed her proudest role in life-that of mother to son Blair St. John Fink, a.k.a. Little Blair, and daughter Kasey Elizabeth Fink. Although Jessica and Big Blair's relationship ended several years later, they stayed close friends and the four of them remained a loving family unit.
Around 2014, Jessica discovered a new passion that gave her life a whole, new meaning-animal rescue. She would take calls at all hours of the day and night, and often spent countless hours searching for lost, abandoned, and/or neglected fur babies. Working with The Rescue Project (for which she was a former foster coordinator, volunteer, foster and an active scanner in the community) and countless other volunteers/groups in the Independence area and beyond, she assisted in reuniting hundreds of pets with their families or helped them find new, forever homes. As so many of her friends and family knew, Jessica herself was a 3-time "foster fail" having adopted Halo, Mystic and Roxi. Had city ordinances allowed there would have been many more "foster fails."
Jessica is survived by daughter Kasey Fink of the home, son Blair Fink, Independence, MO., and their father John Blair Fink, Independence, MO., both her parents, sister Sonya Crane-Yancey, Lee's Summit, MO., all her fur babies, and numerous cousins, extended family, and too many friends to count. In addition to her natural-born children, Jessica was "mom" to many of Blair and Kasey's friends over the years, and went above and beyond for them as if they were truly her own.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Jessica and in support of her children and family at
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/JessMGates73?fbclid=IwAR1XzSYt2IgmcJe-M0L03AlyVkSEcxJQlBIk_-Fol_RY7kAqRGpHQ-ehIEQ.
Other options include donating to your favorite charity or any animal rescue organization/no kill animal shelter in Jessica's name.
"What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us." – Helen Keller