With her loved ones by her side, Kaye departed in peace early Sept. 6 after a four-year battle against Multiple Myeloma. Kaye was born in Vancouver, Wash., and spent her childhood growing up in Woodland and then Packwood, Wash., at the foot of Mt. Rainer.

Kaye had a variety of jobs in her lifetime. Early on she worked for the U.S. Forest Service, as a receptionist in Seattle for a fur auction house and as a flight attendant on charter flights around the world. She then worked at St. Helen’s hospital in Chehalis as a pharmacy and laboratory technician.

After visiting Whidbey Island in the mid seventies, she brought her family here to settle. Her first job on the island was working for the health department. From 1981 until 2005 she worked for the sheriff’s office and had a great time being trained to work as a composite sketch artist for them, along with her other responsibilities as head records clerk. Kaye’s parents Clyde and Connie Balch had a logging company and raised her with a great appreciation for the outdoors. She enjoyed camping and hiking in the woods and at the beach with her family. She also inherited a love of antique collecting and spent many hours doing genealogy research. In the past few years she was able to do some traveling to New Zealand and Ireland, however her favorite pastime was listening to her kids and grandkids play music.

Kaye will be greatly missed by her four children, Jeni (Ryder) Neazor, Judi (Ryder) Donald, Jake Johnson and Josh Holmes as well as seven grandchildren and her brother and sister-in-law, Jayson and Diane Balch of Grangeville, Idaho.

The family is hosting a celebration of life potluck at the American Legion in Oak Harbor on October 10 at noon All of Kaye’s friends and family are welcome. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that all remembrances be made to Adoption Advocates (adoptionadvocates.org).