Obituary

Katherine "Kappy" Stanfield passed from this earth and entered heaven on October 30, 2020. She was 74 years of age. We will miss her love and generous spirit.

Viewing and visitation will be 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Monday November 2, 2020, at Girdner Funeral Home, 141 Elm St., Abilene. Memorial service will be 1:30 PM Tuesday, November 3, 2020, at First Baptist Church, Abilene.

Kappy had a deep love for her family, perhaps most closely followed by her love for sports and any new technology (she was always an "early adopter"). Indeed, Kappy had a voracious appetite for sports, and no Friday night would be complete without her play by play Facebook commentary of the local high school football games. As much as she enjoyed indulging in the things she enjoyed, she enjoyed much more indulging her grandchildren in anything and everything they enjoyed.

Kappy was born on July 11, 1946, in Americus, Georgia, to Malcolm M. Ricks, Sr., and Katherine L. Ricks. She was the oldest of four children. If stories can be believed, she relished in her role as the oldest and ensured her brothers, Malcolm, Jr., Ronald ("Ronnie"), and Doyle knew she was in charge. At the age of 10, the Ricks family moved from Georgia to Abilene, Texas.

Kappy was proud to be in the Cooper High School graduating class of 1964—the first group to have attended Cooper for their entire high school careers. After high school, Kappy attended Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. It was there that she met the love of her life, Charles Stanfield, Sr. The two met on a blind date and married in 1967. Charles entered the Marine Corps, and Kappy held down the home front during Charles's two tours of duty in Vietnam and had the joy of numerous cross country moves during Charles's service.

Kappy and Charles had four sons—Charles Jr. ("Chuck"), Chad, Chris, and Craig. She mostly kept their names straight when she needed to forcefully correct one or all of them. In 1979, just one week after giving birth to her fourth son, the Stanfields moved from Quantico to Abilene, Texas. Kappy was indefatigable in her volunteer work at her sons' schools, with their sporting teams, taxiing them from event to event, finding a way to feed a family of six (she cooked just about every single meal for many years), teaching 6th grade Sunday School at First Baptist Church for many years, and on and on. Not having enough to keep her busy, Kappy started teaching children's drama alongside her mother in the 1980s. Kappy served as a coteacher for about two decades and produced hundreds of plays at the Abilene Public Library alongside her mother/best friend.

When Katherine Ricks retired from teaching drama, so did Kappy. Kappy later worked numerous sporting events in the Abilene area, taking tickets. When Kappy supported a cause, a team or a person, she put her whole heart and soul into it. Her love of the Cooper Cougars was particularly strong and so getting to attend so many of those sporting events was an ideal situation. Her later conversion to being a diehard Aggie fan was mystifying to three of her sons who prefer burnt orange.

Kappy is survived and will be dearly missed by her husband, Charles, Sr.; her sons and their wives Chuck, Chad and Jennifer, Chris and Audrey, and Craig and Sarah; her grandchildren Kristina and her husband Brandon Matherne, Caitlyn, Ashlynn, Stephen, Hannah, Samuel, Peter, Sarah, Mary, Faith, Julia, Lucy, and Lily Stanfield; great grandchildren Bryce and Brayden Matherne; her brothers and their wives Malcolm, Jr., and Donna, Ronnie and Kay, and Doyle and Anne Ricks. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, and former daughter in law Bianca Fiedler and Bianca's two sons, Timothy and Zachary. Kappy cherished all of her family and followed each achievement and major life event as if each were worthy of primetime news. We will all miss her.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the West Texas Rehabilitation Center or a charity of your choice.