Kathleen "Kaye" Maude Eppard

Kathleen “Kaye” Maude Blowers Eppard lived a wonderful life of 93 years.

Born in the hinterlands of Manitoba on August 6, 1929, she grew up in the tiny rural town of Riding Mountain.  She was the third child of English immigrants Robert and Lily Blowers who were emboldened to move to Canada by the Wembley British Empire Exhibition of 1924.  Her family cut and sold firewood for income.  She graduated from Kelwood High School at age 16. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse for a year before she was old enough to enter nursing school at Winnipeg General Hospital on a provincial scholarship. Upon graduation in 1950 she set out to see the world starting with a job at St. Mary’s Hospital.  She met Phil Eppard on a blind date and wowed by his dancing skills became a farmer’s wife.  Married for 40 years they had 5 children and farmed in Salem Corners, Dover and Racine before settling in Stewartville. Meanwhile she worked in Rochester hospitals and taught behavioral health at The Rochester Vocational Technical Institute.

A widow for the past 30 years, she was able to pursue her ambition to travel.  She was a talented knitter and enjoyed reading.  Her greatest joy was time spent with family and friends such as teaching grandchildren how to bake cookies.  She always had a smile and never a contrary word.  She was a proper English matriarch. Kaye loved Jesus and was a multi-decade member of Calvary Episcopal Church in Rochester.  She especially enjoyed making fruitcakes with friends for the Christmas celebration.

She was preceded in death by her 2 brothers, Jack and Maurice “Mike” Blowers and her husband Phil.  She is survived by her sister Alice Wilberforce, children Patricia, Phil, Mike, Judy and Jill, and too many to count grandchildren and great-grandchildren all trying to live up to her motto: “Be swift to love, make haste to be kind.”

A memorial service will be held 11:00 AM Saturday, November 19, 2022 at Calvary Episcopal Church, 111 3rd Ave. SW, Rochester, MN 55902 with The Rev. Beth Royalty and Father Nick Mezacapa officiating. Any donations in her honor can be made to your favorite charity. Arrangements entrusted to Mahn Family Funeral Home, Rochester Chapel. To share a special memory or condolence, please visit www.mahnfamilyfuneralhome.com