Kathy L. Grauerholz

Kathy Lee (Kreller) Grauerholz died at home in Ellensburg on October 8, 2026 after a short battle with cancer.
Kathy was born in Boulder, Colorado on March 19th, 1943, the second of three daughters in a close-knit family. The girls grew up in a cozy little farm house, sharing a bedroom until they were in high school. Kathy studied art at the University of Colorado before marrying her husband in 1964 and moving to Littleton to raise their two daughters.
While Kathy was a stay-at-home mom in the 1970s, she utilized her boundless artistic talent to earn a second income for the family by selling her pastel portraits, sculpture, stained glass, and paintings at local art shows in the south Denver area. Kathy also worked for the state of Colorado’s Disability Services department for about 15 years.
The family spent many happy hours on road trips, making frequent stops at art galleries and museums across the United States that fed Kathy’s creativity. Her enthusiasm for nature was also an inspiration, particularly the golden quaking aspen that light up the slopes of the Rockies every fall. Kathy’s daughters remember the way they helped make handmade brass and copper leaves for their mom’s metalwork aspen branches…and the way their mother consulted them as if they were her colleagues whenever she needed artistic advice. Kathy was still painting and drawing in her 80s: her paintings were featured in Yakima Magazine and recently exhibited at the Clymer Gallery.
After moving to Washington to be closer to her grandchildren and adopting Ellensburg as her new hometown, Kathy became a member of the Ellensburg Presbyterian Church and volunteered at the Ellensburg Children’s Museum. She made sure everyone had seasonal beauty to enjoy at church, and every summer she opened her home so grandchildren could attend plays, art classes, and musical performances. She hosted many CWU Scholarship Luncheon garden parties in her picture-perfect home and garden, and relished refinishing furniture she liberated from garage sales. She was always figuring out creative, quirky, low-cost ways to beautify her relaxing home.
Kathy never knew a stranger. She poured her attention, time, and creativity into her faith, her community, and her family. She will be deeply missed.
Kathy is survived by daughters Shelly (Jelmberg), Lisa (Bailey) and grandchildren March, Jack and Ava (Jelmberg) and June, Neil and Franklin (Leitz). Kathy was preceded in death by her parents Hazel and George Kreller, sisters Carol Joy (Welch) and Karen Sue Kreller as well as her husband Neil in 2022. A memorial service will be held to celebrate Kathy’s life at the Ellensburg Presbyterian Church on March 20th, 2027. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to the Tabitha’s Peaceful Piecemakers volunteer quilters at the Ellensburg Presbyterian Church.