Kathie Marie Spiss was born on April 30, 1943 in southern Minnesota to August and Pluma (Althous) Spiss. She passed away on January 30, 2012 in Tucson, Arizona The family moved to Mandan, North Dakota when Kathie was 11 years on. She attended the University of Wyoming and moved to Tucson in 1966. The year following college graduation she served as a field secretary for Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, after which she became a member of the original faculty of Sahuaro High School. In 1973, she started an award ribbon business, RV Awards, which she owned and operated until her death. Orders were filled in Arizona and throughout the world once the internet became active. RV Awards supplied rosettes for the Equestrian competition at the Athens Olympics. Her life-long love of nature and the outdoors began with the forests and waters in Minnesota and continued with her awe of the Sonoran Desert. She is preceded in death by her parents. Survivors are her brother Steven Spiss, sister-in-law, Charlotte Spiss and neice Andrea (Scott) Pomerleau, as well as fantastic friends and cousins. A memorial is being planned. In lieu of flowers, Kathie asked that donors make a donation to a favorite animal charity or do a simple act of good deed. Arrangements entrusted to Desert Sunset Funeral Home.