A memorial service for Kati Jo Whiteside will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 6, 2016 at the United Methodist Church, Ellendale. Pastor Randy Cirksena will officiate. Visitation will take place one hour prior to the service. A private family burial will take place at a later date.
Kati passed away suddenly as the result of an epileptic seizure on Thursday, July 28, 2016 at the Owatonna Hospital. She was 33 years old.
Kati Jo Whiteside was born on July 4, 1983 to Leonard and Vicki (Smith) Whiteside. She grew up in Clarksville, IA until she moved to the New Richland area in 1986. She attended New Richland Schools and graduated from Waseca High School in 2002.
Kati was a member of the United Methodist Church in Ellendale. She volunteered at the Country Charm ceramic store in Ellendale, where she could enjoy arts and crafts. She also liked to take photos of various things from time to time. She was also a very proud sponsor of the Epilepsy Foundation.
Family was very important to her, and she enjoyed being around them. She had a special gift of interacting with children, and very much loved and enjoyed getting to play with her nieces and nephews. Kati was so happy and so excited to be united in marriage to her fiancé, James Blilie.
Kati continued to show her amazing generosity and selflessness, even after her death, as she was able to donate her eyes and other organs, which will certainly be a life changing gift to the men and women who receive them.
She is preceded in death by her grandparents, Kenneth (Irene) Whiteside and Harold (Harmmean) Smith.
Those left to cherish her memory include her father, Leonard Whiteside of Mason City, IA; mother, Vicki Whiteside of Ellendale; her fiancé, James Blilie of Ellendale; a step-daughter, Grace Blilie; siblings, Jon (Macy) Whiteside of New Richland, Linn (Jason) Roeker of Owatonna, and Mindi (Nick) Werner of Crosby, MN; nieces and nephews, Adyn Donahue, Alex and Olivia Werner, and Levi and Kendell Whiteside; as well as many other loving relatives and friends.