Magical sprite, fountain of wisdom and love, Katherine Monica Vickers breathed her last breath in this earthly realm on October 16. Known by some as Kay, Kayzie, Katie, Mumzy or Gram Gram she was beloved by so many for her stealth knowledge, her sharp wit and her keen open-mindedness. Katie was born a cherub and true red-head in Syracuse, N.Y. on January 3, 1935 to her beloved father Daniel Frances Vickers and Elizabeth Hamlet Vickers. The eldest of four siblings, Katie attended Catholic school from kindergarten until the 11th grade when the chains flew off and her family moved to Sarasota, Florida. Kay was enlisted in the Navy after H.S. graduation and served in air traffic control in San Fransisco. While in the Navy she fell in love with a wide-eyed artist. They married and had three children. Kay Shannon spent the 60's living in D.C. First working as the personal secretary to nuclear-physicist and chain-reactor inventor, Dr. Leo Szilard, who loved her for her wit, her style and her grammar skills. Following a Congressman's attack on Szilard's character as a communist on the Floor of the House, Kay was hired by Rep. John Lewis as one of his first congressional staff. She then served as Director of Communications for Hubert Humphrey's Presidential campaign. Kay was a writer. She stewarded many historical actions: as the Executive Director of the United Nation's Women's Association in Washington D.C, as logistics coordinator for M.L.K's The Poor People's Resurrection City on the National Mall in the Spring of 1969, as the Executive Director of the Southern Christian Environmental Leadership Council, as Documentarian for the Columbia University's Civil Rights Documentation Project, as member of the Inhoguration Committee in which she helped inaugurate a pig at Nixon's inauguration, as a representative of Motown Records, and as a disc jockey in Southern California in the '70s. Never one to retire from learning, Katie earned a dual Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications and Film and Auto-mechanics from San Diego State University at the age of 42, while raising her youngest daughter as a single mother. Katie's love for her children and grandchildren was the spark that drove her through her last breath. Kay has now, as she loved to say, 'let go, let god'. She is pre-deceased by her beloved eldest daughter Michelle Shannon Kelly and grandson Walker Jack Abrams. Kay is survived by her daughters Bethann Shannon, Rupa Vickers Russe, her son Rapheal Shannon, and her granddaughters Faythleen Kelley, Ara Vickers and Zoe Vickers. She will be buried close to the sky in her beloved Stillhouse Holler in Marshall, NC on Friday, Oct. 19. A Memorial will be held in the Spring. Her spark will serve as a guide for her family for all their lives. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blueridgefuneralservice.org.