Valerie Wolf
Age - 87
December 5, 2023
In Loving memory of Valerie "Kay" Wolf It is with heavy hearts that the family members of Valerie "Kay" Wolf announce her passing on December 2, 2023. Kay left this world and arrived at her eternal home with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as she felt the love of family and friends say good-bye. She was an amazingly talented woman who was kind, caring, and beautiful Kay was born on May 22, 1936 to Richard P. Mosser and Lillian Danner Mosser in Ashland, OH. For several years Kay, her parents, and her brother Richard lived in Phoenix at South Mountain Park, which is now an Arizona state park. The bunkhouse she lived in is now part of the ranger station. The family eventually returned to Ohio, Kay attended 7th grade at 5 Points School in Richland County where she met Fred Wolf, who she would eventually marry on November 30, 1957 at Trinity Lutheran Church. She always said that she knew from the first meeting that she would marry him some day. Kay was a graduate of Ashland High School and Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in September 1957. After her marriage to Fred, they moved to Columbus while he was in the Air Force. Kay worked as a RN at Doctors Hospital. While in Columbus Fred and Kay had their first child, Michael. After Fred completed his service in the Air Force, they moved to the Ashland area and she again returned to Samaritan Hospital where she worked as a Head Nurse until the birth of her second child Karin. Kay was a "stay at home mom" during the children's early formative years. She returned to work as a RN in various roles including a Head Nurse at Good Shepherd nursing home and various physician practices, including her most recent employment with Drs. Hess, Royal, and James Mooney. So many in the community were impacted by Kay's community service. She was a Cub Scout Den Mother, 4-H Advisor, member of the Football Moms Club, FHA chaperone for State Conventions, Room Mother many years, Sunday School teacher, and former chairperson of Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board. Kay, and friend Doris Glass, co-founded Concerned Citizens for Drug Education in the late 1970's at a time when most people knew nothing about recreational drug abuse. She and Doris traveled to Atlanta, Georgia many times to attend seminars to bring back information to Ashland County and they presented as well on what was being done in Ashland County working with local law enforcement. In fact, the drug paraphernalia display board that the Ashland County Sheriff's Office used for many years was constructed by Kay and Doris with assistance from the Sheriff's Office. Whether it was cooking, sewing, crocheting, crafting, gardening, canning, and preserving, there was little Kay did not excel in doing. She sewed most of Karin's clothes from infancy into Jr. High when she taught Karin to sew shirts, pants, dresses, and even coats. She sewed shirts for Michael as well. When it came to sewing special outfits or Halloween costumes there was nothing she would not try for her grandchildren, including Power Ranger suits, dinosaur costumes, many Army outfits, and even an adorable dalmatian costume, to list just a few. She enjoyed crocheting each grandchild baby blankets, sweaters and hats, as well as stuffed animals, and afghans. She made all of Karin's clothes for her many Barbie and Ken dolls. Later she would also make GI Joe outfits for the grandsons. One of handmade gifts she will be most remembered for was the "famous" Christmas pillows for each member of the family that were stacked around the Christmas tree. It just was not Christmas if her family did not have new pillows each year with many colors and designs to choose from, and extras as well for boy/girlfriends. During Michael's High School years of playing Varsity Football, Kay crocheted each football player a football "guy" with that player's jersey number. She put so much love into everything she did, for family, as well as for community. After Kay's faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and her family, traveling may have been her third favorite thing. She and Fred instilled the love of travel into their children, and then grandchildren. Many trips were taken across the USA during the Summer. Usually, those trips were to see family in Wyoming and California. Kay and Fred started riding motorcycles together in the late 1970's. They toured the Continental US as well as Canada, first on BMWs and then Harleys. They logged over 200,000 miles together. She was a human GPS before GPS's were invented. Kay shared her love of travel by taking her grandchildren on a graduation trip either the summer prior, or after, graduation. There were trips through New England, New Mexico, and multiple to Arizona. She was chaperone for grandsons Nicolaus and Christopher during many of Karin's medical conferences throughout the US. It was rare for Kay to ever turn down an opportunity to travel. When she got her one and only passport at age 81, she asked to go to the Bahamas. That ended up being one of her favorite trips. She was incredibly adventurous. When grandsons Joshua, Jared, and Nicolaus were young, she packed all three into her Chevy S10 truck and headed to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. She mapped out the trip, planned the tours through the cave, and took the boys on many shopping stops through the rock shops. At 81 she was so excited to head to Wyoming for one of the Mosser reunions at her brother Steve's ranch. She was the matriarch, and basked in the presence of her large extended family. And much to her daughter's surprise, her brothers and nieces got her on a horse for what ended up being her last horseback ride. She was fearless. When it was a groundhog fighting with the dog, she would break up the fight, get her rifle, and shoot the groundhog out of the tree that the dog chased it to, or she would tenaciously trap the chipmunks which ate her flowers. If there was a photo opportunity, Kay would be taking a picture. She made her grandchildren photo albums of their activities as well as the photos of family activities. Being with her family brought her so much joy, and having photos to remember those times were important to her. Now those photos and memories are even more special as so many mourn her loss. Here are a few little-known facts about Kay. She was a better shot with a rifle than most men. She was taught how to hunt at a young age by her uncles, Bill and Len Danner. She also knew how to prepare a snapping turtle and make turtle soup. One year she tricked Michael and Karin into eating squirrel. It tasted good until they learned what they were eating, that was the last time they would be tricked. She made homemade sourdough bread for many years and when the grandchildren visited, the request almost without fail was for a cheese sandwich with her homemade bread. Her homemade ice cream in the summer was legendary, and it was not New Years Day without her ribs, sauerkraut, and dumplings. Kay is survived by her loving husband of 66 years, Fred Wolf, children Michael J (Lori) Wolf, Karin Schwan, grandchildren: Joshua (Caroline) Wolf, Jared (Christina) Wolf, Jordyn (Derek) Palisay, Tabi Alexander, Andrew Wolf, Nicolaus (Lisa) Schwan, and Christopher (Michelle) Schwan, and 12 great-grandchildren, many nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. She is also survived by siblings: Richard (Judy) Mosser, Linda Ormiston, Paul (Anna) Mosser, Steve (Brenda) Mosser, Ty (Don) Hoffman, Donn (Pam) Mosser, Jody (Stephanie) Mosser. Her very special friends are Gracie (Phil) Vermillion and Jo Matheson. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Lee Mosser, son-in-law Frederick W Schwan, brother-in-law Martin Wolf, sister-in-law Rosemary Wolf Bartley, and infant granddaughter Jevon Wolf. Singing was a gift Kay gave to those who were lucky enough to be near her in church, hear her sing at Saturday Night Folk Service, or hear her at the many Trinity Christmas musicals. She was a life-long member of Trinity Lutheran church where she was confirmed, married, and had her children baptized and confirmed. In leui of flowers, the family requests donations to the Music Fund at Trinity Lutheran Church, 508 Center Street, Ashland, OH 44805. Fickes Funeral Home in Jeromesville assisted the family with arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www. fickesfuneralhome. com.
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