Vickey Jan Netherlain Stamps, 83, lastly of Troutman, N.C., and formerly of Crescent City, Calif., joined her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in her heavenly home on April 25, 2024. Even as Vickey struggled to breathe, and her physical strength waned in her battle with lung disease and breast cancer, God’s light shone through her cheerful countenance and kind words.
An avid, life-long learner and student, Vickey held four academic degrees. She even returned to school at age sixty! She loved reading and researching word definitions. After obtaining her LVN license, she blessed the lives of others as she lovingly cared for her patients in nursing homes, hospitals, and even prisons in her decades-long career as a nurse. Vickey used her creative skills to crochet, sew, knit, and draw. She was a featured monthly artist at a venue in Crescent City, Calif. Her caring, servant’s heart prompted her to make 309 dolls to distribute to sick boys and girls, including recipients in Switzerland and South Africa!
Vivacious and inspiring, Vickey brought much hope and joy to others. A prolific author and gifted illustrator, she wrote and gave away hundreds of poems and short stories which encouraged so many. She was an inspiration, courageously navigating through losses and medical challenges in her last season of life.
Suddenly leaving her home in Crescent City, her memories, precious friends, and New Life Community Church to receive the care her daughter and son-in law would provide in North Carolina was difficult. Her beloved husband of 52 years, Wendell, passed away just a month before her departure. He was her best friend. And although their personalities were so different, (his one of solitude, and hers quite social), they enjoyed their seemingly simple life together. Their relationship was full of love and companionship, each helping the other with their limitations. Although most times they simply stayed home, they also enjoyed driving along the Northern California coast, viewing the elk, magnificent redwoods and simply exploring. As long as they could be together, life was good. Vickey rejoiced in God’s creation which provided the inspiration for her artistic works. She was also quite a good photographer and enjoyed capturing a bird, sea otter, squirrel, flower along the journey.
However, new life opened for her in North Carolina as well. Although she continued to miss her long-term friends in Crescent City and her “little” church there, Vickey quickly became a beloved fixture at Grace Covenant Church in Mooresville, sharing her humor through corny jokes, wisdom-filled “life” stories, lending a book she just finished, and giving away her newest writing. Her daughter Kari and her husband Ron, alongside Don (Ron’s brother) enjoyed times together playing cards and hearing Vickey’s funny little “ha, ha, yabba, dabba, gooba, gooba, whoop, whoop” song and dance whenever she won at playing cards — it was her special delight to beat her son-in-law, Ron! She also enjoyed being with her grandchildren – a few of them “greats.” She loved asking them to come close to her to have a word , share a “life” story or a “secret.” I love you. She enjoyed working with the girls, Haylee and Jessica, sewing and drawing. Although uninterested in sewing and drawing, the boys, Ethan and Jr., liked to spend time with her and loved it when she said something only “grandma” could say! Once she surprisingly dowsed them all with a water gun — only to get it back from them! They enjoyed and cared for her well. It was a privilege for the family in North Carolina to share life with her over the last 11 months. She is missed and her life fondly remembered.
Vickey loved interacting with people and delighted in spending time with family and friends. Her sons, Rockey and Ed, and stepdaughter Sandy often called to share life and laughter with her; she was much loved by them. Crescent City, family-like friends as well as new found friends in North Carolina would also often call to hear Vickey’s newest joke, writing or simply to catch up on life. People smile when they think of Vickey — Mom, Grandma, Friend.
Vickey was born August 8, 1940, in Enid, Okla., to Robert and Viola Powell Netherlain. In addition to her parents and husband Wendell, she was preceded in death by her beloved daughter, Syndia Kemp, and brother, Larry Netherlain.
Left to cherish her memory are her children, Rockey Hathaway, Kari Burford (husband Ron), Ed Moore (partner Stephen), Sandy Meeks (husband David), brother-in-law, Alvin Stamps (wife Janice), and many grandchildren and great grandchildren; as well as special neighbors, Jack and Suanne Moodie, and their daughter, Jessica Norton, and many special friends.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, May 11, at New Life Community Church, 424 2nd Street, Crescent City, CA at 12 noon followed by lunch at the church and a short graveside goodbye at Crescent City Cemetery, 400 E. Cooper Avenue, Crescent City.
Cavin-Cook Funeral Home, Mooresville, is serving the family. Condolences may be made to the family at www.cavin-cook.com.