Kathleen Ann Welsh

1981 - 2025

Kathleen Ann Welsh, 44, went to rest in Jesus' loving arms at 3 p.m. on October 5, 2025. She spent her last days loving and being loved by her family and caregivers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. A Requiem Mass will be at Saint Paul's Catholic Parish in St Petersburg, Florida on Saturday, October 25th at 9:30, AM. Memorial donations in her name can be made to The Ronald McDonald House, or The Make A Wish Foundation.

Kathleen was born on July 13, 1981, at Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center in San Antonio Texas, and baptized by the Catholic Chaplin at the Randolph Air Force Base Chapel. She received her first Holy Communion at Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Gilbert, Iowa. Her confirmation of faith was at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sioux City, Iowa.

Despite multiple health problems and surgeries beginning with a heart transplant when she was seven, Kathleen never complained, felt sorry for herself, or shied away from any challenge. She made life-long friends everywhere she went, and she was a blessing to her dad and her two rowdy brothers when she was growing up with them.

Kathleen graduated from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School in Sioux City and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Iowa. She received her degree in four years despite needing a kidney transplant between sophomore and junior years. When no other donors were compatible, her best friend and honorary sister, Valerie Smith, donated a kidney to give Kathleen many more miraculous years of life. After receiving her bachelor's degree, Kathleen went on to earn a Master of Arts Degree from North Carolina State University.

After her formal education, Kathleen traveled as far west as Hong Kong, and as far east as Greece in her pursuit of life's full measure. She worked in Minneapolis for several years until her health began to fail and then became the beloved "Auntie K" for her older brother Mike and sister in-law Margo's three little girls, Edie, Eleanore, and Lucille, in Saint Petersburg Florida.

When Diabetes and amputations kept her from being able to care for her nieces, it was her wish to be near her mother Tsai Hsia, her older sister Jennifer, and her older brother Patrick in Durham, North Carolina. She was especially close to her sister-in-law, Kristin during this last phase of her illness. Always wanting to be productive, in May of this year, Kathleen earned an AA in Accounting so she could earn money working from home.

Survivors include her father, Michael P. Welsh and stepmother Barbara of Yankton, her mother, Tsai Hsia and stepfather Thomas of Durham, NC, sisters Jennifer Welsh (Craig) of Sanford, NC, Elizabeth Ivie (Mike), and three nephews Everett, Benjamin, and Andrew of Fairhope, AL, brothers, Mike Welsh Jr. (Margo), and three nieces Edie, Eleanore, and Lucille, of St Petersburg FL, Patrick Welsh (Kristin) of Durham, NC, brother, Joseph Welsh of Denver, CO, and stepsister, Amanda Hersh of Colorado Springs, CO.

Oh, Katie, you're gone too soon. Rest peaceful in Jesus' arms until we meet again.

'Mong the feet of angels seven.

What a dancer, glimmering!

William Butler Yeats, "The Countess Cathleen in Paradise"