Jewelry For Bridesmaids

Jodie King was “always willing to jump in and help in any way that she could,” her father said.

Who: Jodie Anne King, 44, of Lee’s Summit.

When and how she died: Sept. 12 of unknown reasons.

Creative crafter: Jodie King had a creative mind that constantly sought outlets. Her house was filled with her crafts and the aroma of her original recipes.

She made jewelry, built models, worked jigsaw puzzles, sewed, embroidered and drew a little.

“She didn’t like to just sit there and do nothing,” said her daughter, Bridget King, “so Dad would be watching TV and I’d be on the phone and she’d just sit and start making jewelry.”

She often worked with beads and rocks that she collected and tumbled smooth. But from the time she was a little girl, just about anything might became a lamp, ashtray or coaster in her hands.

“We would have a garage sale and she’d go picking through things and bring them in and make things out of them,” said her mother, Judy Anne Casper. “She made some of the most precious things that I’ll forever have.”

She made her own veil and bouquet when she got married and liked to make elaborate wedding cakes for loved ones. Her creations sometimes combined square cakes decorated to match the groomsmen’s attire with round cakes in the bridesmaids’ colors, and drew compliments from professional bakers, her mother said.

Most of her talents were self-taught.

In a job interview to build and maintain payroll systems, Jodie managed to fix a computer problem at the company she was interviewing with and immediately was hired. She had mastered the skill on her own.

“She started out just pulling stuff off the Internet and she’d play with it and figure it out,” said her husband, Larry King.

Loved nature: Jodie grew up with health problems that kept her from a lot of vigorous games, but that didn’t stop her from enjoying the outdoors. She loved to ride on the back of her father’s motorcycle and tore around on her own three-wheeled all-terrain vehicle even though she bruised easily.

“It was kind of hard to keep up with her as a child growing up because she wasn’t afraid to try things,” said her father, Roy Casper.

Numerous surgeries that ended with the replacement of both knees eventually slowed her down, but she still got out to fish or watch wildlife.

Jodie loved flowers, especially roses, and animals seemed drawn to her, her family said. She liked to pick up frogs, scratch their heads and coo that they were her little buddies. She kept a menagerie of pets — a rabbit, dogs, cats, fish and a long-lived parrot — and took injured strays to an animal hospital.

“Pretty much if there was an animal that needed her help, she would help as much as she could,” Bridget said.

Family bonds: Jodie kept a close relationship with her parents, calling her mother two or three times a day just to share a laugh. As a mother, she gave good advice and lots of love and was her daughter’s best friend.

“All my friends thought she and my dad were really cool,” Bridget said. “All my friends said, ‘I wish my mom was like that.’ She liked our kind of music and the kinds of things we were interested in.”

Despite her health problems, Jodie actively supported her daughter’s pursuits. She was known for her hot chocolate in the booster club for Bridget’s Air Force Junior ROTC. She made goodies for bake sales, worked at rummage sales and fought through knee pain to help with car wash fundraisers.

“She thought the world of her daughter,” Roy said, “and every time I saw her, she showed that.”

Survivors include: Her husband and daughter, her mother, her father and stepmother, and several nieces and nephews.

The last word: “She was always big-hearted and generous,” her father said, “always willing to jump in and help in any way that she could.”

To suggest community members to profile, send e-mail to tributes@kcstar.com.

Report comment as: (required) X Obscenity/vulgarity Hate speech Personal attack Advertising/Spam Copyright/Plagiarism Other

View the original article here