Kathleen Vang

1943 - 2025

Dundas - Kathy Vang, age 82, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family, on Thursday morning, October 23, 2025.

Kathleen Lucille Vang was born on March 4, 1943, in Northfield, Minnesota, to Louis and Lucille (Ostlie) Vang. She was baptized and confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church and grew up in Castle Rock and then Waterford. Kathleen graduated from Northfield High School in 1961 and worked for more than two years as a nursing assistant at Northfield Hospital before attending the St. John's School of Nursing in Red Wing, receiving her LPN in 1964. She again worked at Northfield Hospital until she enrolled in the Abbott Northwestern School of Nursing, graduating with her RN in 1973. She returned to Northfield Hospital until 1984, when she began work at Fairview Ridges Hospital, which was new at the time. Kathy would often say "She came in with the doors."

Kathy was a woman of many talents, including baking, quilting, embroidery, knitting, gardening, and canning. She participated with the LWR mission quilters and Word Vision knitters of St. John's, producing hundreds of beautiful quilts and toddler tees to be sent to people in need around the globe. Kathy had boundless energy for interesting activities and conversation, as well as sharing the fruits of her labor with family and friends. Kathy never married and described herself as an "unclaimed treasure," a description with which her family and friends would agree. She cared for her parents in their later years with devotion. In 1999, Kathy moved from the family home to a new home in Dundas, which she filled with fabric and yarn, mason jars, train pictures, family mementos, her beloved cats, and many friends.

Survivors include her sister Mary Detlie of Northfield; many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews; her cat companions Bogo and Prince; other family and many friends. She was preceded in death by her sister Lana Hammer, her brother Harold Vang and her parents.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00PM, Monday, November 3, 2025, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Northfield. Visitation will be one hour prior and a reception will follow. Interment will be in Northfield Cemetery at a later date. The service will be live streamed at https://stjohnsnorthfield.org

Kathy's family would like to extend a special thank you to Kathy's in home caregivers Kelly, Jennifer and Annie. They would also like to thank Tom and the entire hospice team at Allina Home Hospice.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Prairie's Edge Humane Society.

www.northfieldfuneral.com