Kathleen Small West, 88, passed away Friday, January 24, 2025. She was born October 29, 1936, in Tabor City, N.C., youngest daughter of the late Alexander M. Small and Mollie Fipps Small. She graduated from Tabor City High School in 1955 and City Memorial Hospital (now Forsyth Medical Center) School of Nursing in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1958.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Lon Hugh West Jr., whom she married on August 17, 1958, only son of Lon H. West Sr. and Raye Odom West of Yadkinville, N.C. She and her husband moved to Statesville, N.C., in 1962 after he completed Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem, N.C. Her husband was an attorney and had practiced law in Statesville, N.C., for 49 years before he retired in 2011 due to illness. He passed away in October of 2012. She became Office Manager and Legal Secretary for her husband in 1964 for 47 years until his retirement in June of 2011.

She is a member of Broad Street United Methodist Church, serving as Vice Chairman of Altar Guild in 1994, as Chairman of Altar Guild in 1995, on the Worship Committee in 1996 and 1997, and as Chairman of Flowers and Memorials for three years. She was a member of the Lamplighters Ministry of the Church until it ended.

She was a lifelong active Republican. A football fan along with her husband prior to his death, they attended all Wofford College home football games for 42 years in Spartanburg, S.C.

Also preceding her in death were three sisters, Faye S. Wescott of Kernersville, N.C., Frances S. Greene of Newport Beach, Calif., and Joyce S. Matthis of Wilmington, N.C.,; and one brother, Alex M. Small of High Point, N.C. She is survived by several nieces and one nephew.

A graveside service for the interment of cremated remains will be held in Oakwood Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Monday, February 3.

Memorials may be made to “The Lon Hugh West Jr. and Kathleen Small West Endowed Scholarship Fund ” at Wofford College, 429 Church Street, Spartanburg, SC; Broad Street United Methodist Church, 315 West Broad Street, Statesville, N.C., or Hospice & Palliative Care of Iredell County, 2347 Simonton Road, Statesville, N.C.

Troutman Funeral Home is serving the family.