Kathleen Maag Stone

Kathleen Maag Stone passed away Friday, August 1 in Evergreen Hospital with her family around her.

 
Kathleen died from complications of non-small cell lung cancer, even though she never smoked.

 
Kathleen was born May 6, 1958 in Ontario, Oregon to Warner and Mary K Maag. She was the 5th of 6 children. Her siblings–Father Ron Maag of Hood River, Oregon; Regina Pontarolo-Maag (Steve) of Quincy, Washington; Doug Maag (Terrie) of Vale, Oregon, Maureen Maag of Portland, Oregon and Brian Maag (Kathryn) of Lake Oswego, Oregon.

 
Kathleen was raised on her family farm at Jamieson, about 20 miles outside Vale, Oregon. She and her brothers, sisters and cousins worked the farm, taking care of crops and livestock. They roamed the countryside, riding horses, 4-wheelers, and swimming. Every year, their father would take them to the North Fork fishing and camping. And every summer they looked forward to the Vale rodeo and Suicide race.

 
Kathleen attended Willowcreek School through junior high, then Vale High School. She was on the high school volleyball team. Many of her aunts were nurses, so Kathleen followed them to the University of Portland to nursing school, where she graduated cum laude in 1980. She had met a number of people who are still her friends, and one of them, Maria Reed Lambright (Tom) became her roommate.

 
After college, Kathleen, Maria and Marie Defolice travelled around Europe. Kathleen and Maria moved to the Seattle area for nursing jobs. They started at Group Health Hospital in Redmond. Kathleen moved to University of Washington Hospital ICU/CCU for a short time, then back to Group Health. In 1983, she joined Providence Hospital in Everett for 5 years, then 3 years at Providence Seattle ICU. In 1991, she moved to the CCU, working mostly with heart surgery patients. She stayed with Providence until 2000, when Providence Seattle Hospital was sold to Swedish Hospital. She moved to Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland to reduce commute time and advance her nursing career. Kathleen was selected for excellence in Nursing by the Hospital in 2004. Then, she was a charge nurse, then assistant director of the recovery room in 2007. She left Evergreen when her cancer was diagnosed and she was disabled.

 
While biking, the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride in 1986, Kathleen met Roger Stone. They met again skiing with friends at Mt. Bachelor in Bend in February 1989. They dated, danced, went through Marriage Encounter, and were married in the midst of a snowstorm February 1990. They have twin boys, Matthew and Daniel, born in 1995.

 
Kathleen always loved the outdoors and animals. On the farm, she raised chickens, and badgered her father into letting her have sheep and goats as well. Later, she continued her love of birds, and specifically hummingbirds. We think she may visit us as a hummingbird, and may have already.

 
Kathleen loved the outdoors, specifically the Hoh Rain forest, Rialto Beach, ferry rides, sailing, kayaking. She liked taking the boys to Cannon Beach, Long Beach, and Ocean Shores. She enjoyed teaching the boys to ride bikes at “Circle Park” (Edith Moulton Park) and taking them for walks at “Birdie Park” (Juanita Bay Park). She loved them learning to drive go-karts, surf, skim board, ski, snowboard, even longboard skateboarding, sandboarding, SUP. Kathleen was also a sports lover and became a great soccer, little league and basketball mom. Later, she learned to pick brackets for March Madness and cheered her favorites on.

 
She loved to garden, and with raised beds and pots, maintained tomatoes, beans, peas, zucchini, and many other veggies and herbs. She liked to cook and collected recipes and cookbooks to the extreme. She loved sharing recipes and dishes with friends and family. But most of all, she loved to chat and catch up on the news of friends and family. She talked to her sisters and mother regularly, getting news of Jamison, Vale, Juntura and points in-between.

 
Kathleen loves her boys, and one her goals was to see them graduate high school, which they did in 2013. She changed the goal to seeing them graduate college–Dan from Cal Poly, Matt from the University of Washington.

 
She was first diagnosed with cancer in the emergency room with fluid pressing on her heart in 2008. Subsequently, she endured chemotherapy, heart surgeries, and lung taps. Eventually, she and her sister Maureen travelled to Boston to have Kathleen’s tumor tested for gene expressions that would show mutations. Doctors there sent her for experimental drug studies that stopped and reversed tumor growth. She got in a drug trial for an immune drug that had reversed the cancer, but the trial ended. Subsequent treatments failed. Through it all, Kathleen remained positive and forward thinking always looking for what the next treatment might be.
There will be a Rosary Sunday, August 17 at 7:30 PM at St Patrick’s Catholic Church 690 A St W, Vale, OR 97918. There will be a funeral Mass for her at St Patrick’s, Monday, August 18 at 10:30 AM, followed by a celebration of life at the Parish Hall.

 
We’re considering how to best memorialize Kathleen in the Kirkland area–with a park bench, plaque at Evergreen Hospital, or a water feature in the Hospital’s Peace Garden. If you’d like to contribute, please send checks to “Kathleen Stone Memorial”, 2987 SW Fairview Blvd, Portland, Oregon 97205.