Katherine Hammontree Whitlow was a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, an aunt, a cousin, a designer, an artist and a homecoming queen. She was all of those things and embodied her place in each with honesty, grace and passion. She was all of those things and she was a Christian. On December 20, 2006, Katie was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. One year after that, to the date, she died. At the time of her death, Katie was four months pregnant with a son, Bascom Ancil Whitlow.  

    Several thousand people attended her funeral, where they heard the story of Katie’s life, a story that centered around one theme: Katie’s love for God, a love that flowed from Him, into her, and from her to everyone she encountered. Katie confronted her illness with the same spirit she had lived the previous twenty-six years of her life. She questioned why she was sick, missed her daughter Merriwether during the months she spent in the hospital, cried when the doctors told her the leukemia had returned but she never rejected her faith in God’s love for her. In her final letter to her friends and family, she implored them to tell someone about Jesus. The Katie Hammontree Whitlow Fund has been established to enable Katie’s desire to be realized.