Heaven acquired another battle-hardened nurse on March 7th. We aren't sure what old nurses do for eternity, but even if someone up there has a surgeon complex He certainly knows to get out of their way while they do it. The cause of death was a rare, non-genetic breast cancer.

Kathleen Cranney Forsyth was welcomed into a family of boys on June 5, 1952. She grew up in Orem in the middle of five brothers.

Kathleen learned at a very young age that horses and dogs were the most reliable friends. Though her family can only name one two-legged childhood pal (Anne Marie, another misfit horse girl) we absorbed from infancy the stories of Queenie and Bug, Stormy and Biffy and Penny.

Her parents attempted to raise her to be a lady, and she grew up with one foot in the demure heel of a doctor's daughter and the other in a stirrup, dog on the rump behind her. At 18 she moved to St. George for college and gasoline was thrown on her little heart flame when she spotted a For Sale sign on a motorcycle. Even a galloping horse had never sent the wind through her hair like that, and flying through the desert on a motorcycle became her absolute favorite thing. Right up until she started skydiving. Though her nursing experiences with accident victims caused her to regretfully hang up her helmet early on, she loved motorcycles ardently all her life and had one when she died.

She married the right man, one of the few truly pure-hearted on this earth. David Forsyth was never a poet but he has spent his life attempting to describe the sublime experience of being married to his soulmate. For her part, after hearing David described as a ringer for Robert Redford for the hundredth time, Kathleen let it be known that he was much better looking than Redford, who had too many freckles.

David spent their life together entertaining her and Kathleen spent it laughing at him.

They were thrilled for each of their six babies. During the early small-child years Kathleen channeled her energies toward keeping a perfectly polished home and serving multiple course meals. Fortunately she realized that those things were just not the highest priority for raising a united and happy family, and we spent most of our childhoods in the snow and the sand and the water, laughing.

Our mom was among the least sung of unsung heroes. Despite her personal feelings of inadequacy, she instilled in us a confidence that we were loved and of intrinsic value as God's children. She also imparted to us her habit of keeping one eye out for the struggling among us.

During one whitewater rafting trip, the friend of a relative attempted to swim across the swollen Green River. Seemingly untroubled, part of the way across he turned to look at the group and in a very small voice, spoke one word, "Help." Kathleen dove into the river before anyone else had time to react. It was too late to change course, but she guided the man as together they floated through the rapids and to the safety of the shore below.

Kathleen always left the ninety and nine and went after the one, the outsiders, the least of these our brethren.

She saved all of the people and animals she could; the only times in her life when she had absolutely no hesitation or self-doubt were when she was rescuing someone. Our dad was the paramedic, but we grew up knowing who to call in an emergency.

We took it as a matter of course throughout our lives that people would regularly jangle the phone off the hook, pound on the door or just frantically burst into the house holding bleeding children or choking babies. Several people reading this credit her with directly saving their lives or the lives of their children. During her 55 years as a nurse, however, she met many that she could not save. If they were alone she sat with them and held their hands through to the end.

We are eternally grateful to the many people in her life who took the time to get to know her and share their love with her.

Her 50th and final foster dog is currently waiting at the door, listening for her to pull into the driveway (but, Kathleen would want everyone to know, is soon to picked up by her forever family).

She is survived by her children, Kara (Keven) Cottle, Josh (Amy) Forsyth, Jonathan (Fernanda) Forsyth, Megan (Nate) Walters, Kevin (Shari) Forsyth, Kate (Denn Madsen) Forsyth and 11 grandchildren with one on the way. She was preceded in death by her parents, Wyndon Doyle Cranney and Nettie Marie Petersen Cranney, and her older brothers William and Baby Boy Cranney.

In lieu of flowers, she would have really loved to save a few more souls through donations to her beloved Rescue Rovers crew at rescuerovers.org.

Funeral service Tuesday March 24th at 365 S 900 E Orem UT 84097.  Visiting at 5:00 p.m., service at 6:00, food and stories afterward.