Nancy E. (Foster) Kakabaker

Kakabaker, Nancy age 78. Nancy was born in 1944 to Tom and Mary. When her mother passed away at age 34, she was adopted by Phyllis, her second mother. She was the second of nine children in the family. As a teen working at Town & Country Grocery, she nearly collided with a handsome young man, Ken Kakabaker, whom she would eventually marry. The young couple moved to Jackson in 1968 and made many life-long friends in a suburb in Napoleon. In 1980, they moved back to Kalamazoo with their two daughters Kristine and Karen, where they enjoyed life on a ten-acre farm. They had many good times with a horse, a pony, dogs, cats, chickens, and a goat. Nancy had her hands full taking the girls to swimming, dance lessons, softball, track, volleyball, tennis practices and competitions as well as 4-H activities. The joys of her life were her daughters Kris and Karen and her grandchildren. She cared for her grandsons Oscar and Quinn during the day, until they reached school age. She and Ken were always taking the boys to the Nature Center, zoos, Lake Michigan and much more. Nancy believed God hand-picked her best friends. She found her dearest friends in her siblings, schoolmates, neighbors, church members, Euchre group, ceramics class and through walking. She was quick witted, often catching friends off-guard, bringing them to tears with laughter. She felt so blessed. She had many hobbies over the years including basket weaving, knitting, pottery, sewing, oil painting, and glass fusion jewelry making. Flower gardening was a life-long passion of hers. Through the Big Rock Community Church, Nancy was in charge of collecting school supplies and coats, she helped make hundreds of knitted hats, while others made mittens, and she delivered all of this to the homeless community. Nancy leaves behind her husband Ken, daughter Karen (Matt) Sahlgren, son-in-law Dan Swartzentruber, grandsons Joshua Swartzentruber, Quinn and Oscar Sahlgren and great grandsons, Stark Swartzentruber and Alaric Casler. She was preceded in death by her daughter Kristine, her brother Ed, and her parents. She chose to donate her body to WMU's School of Medicine. Friends may meet the family from 11:00am-12:00pm on Saturday, April 8 at the Langeland Family Funeral Homes, 3926 South 9th Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49009 where a memorial service to celebrate her life will be held at 12:00pm. A light reception will follow the service in the Langeland Family Reception Center. To view Nancy's personalized webpage please visit https://www.langelands.com