Kay Bosley, a third-year Divinity School student, cherished by her colleagues for her tremendous faith and strength in adversity, died Aug. 6 after a two-year struggle with cancer. She was 48.
Bosley joined the Divinity School in 1999, weeks before she was diagnosed with lung cancer, but she persevered at the University, maintaining her class schedules through the spring semester this year.
"She bore an exemplary Christian witness as she continued with her studies and deepened her friendships with students, faculty and staff, amidst her treatments," wrote Divinity School Dean Gregory Jones in a letter he sent to members of the community. "In her dying--as in her living--she offered a beautiful testimony to the power of Christian hope."
Her faith in Christ and openness about the illness vividly impressed her friends, said James Lowery, a third-year Divinity student who met Bosley on Project Bridge, a two-week pre-orientation community service program for Divinity students. It was on this trip that Bosley first exhibited symptoms of cancer.
Her willingness to confront her cancer head on is perhaps best illustrated by her choice to take a class on death and dying, in which she shared her struggle with her fellow students.
"She and her classmates composed a worship service built around the fact that Kay was going to die," said Gregory Duncan, associate dean for student services in the Divinity School, who attended the service. "It's one of the most remarkable experiences I've been through, because most of us do so much to deny death, but she was so faithful and believed so much in God's promises that God's love doesn't stop with death."
More than her willingness to talk about herself, Bosley is remembered for being intent on seeing every moment as an opportunity to be a witness.
"She was so outward-focused," said Ashley Griffith, a third-year Divinity student. "Even though it was obvious that she was the one that needed the concern and care, she'd turn the conversation around."
Even at her funeral, which Bosley composed herself, she was able to minister to her friends. "It's amazing that she did her own worship service for her funeral," said Lowery, who served as a pallbearer.
"It started off kind of sad--people gathered and cried and consoled each other. But when the ceremony started, nobody mourned her passing, but celebrated her life.... People laughed and cut up and joked. It was amazing."
Bosley is survived by her husband, David Bosley, Divinity '00, sons Chad Ozdemir of Keystone, Colo., and Sean Ozdemir of Blacksburg, Va., mother Katherine Taylor of Santa Clarita, Calif., sister Nora Hughes of Malaysia and brother Gary Beyer of Spokane, Wash.
The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Triangle Chaplain Services, P.O. Box 3037, Cary, NC 27519. Triangle Chaplain Services is a nonprofit organization founded by Kay and David Bosley to provide chaplain services to cancer patients who would not otherwise be able to afford them.
A service of death and resurrection was held Aug. 10 at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh. Bosley was buried at Raleigh Memorial Gardens.
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