Kathleen Hembree

Kathleen Jordan Hembree
January 22, 1934 - October 25, 2026

Kathleen Jordan Hembree received her second but now permanent view of heaven on October 25, 2026, when she died of complications from dementia in Somerset, Kentucky, at the age of 92.

Kathleen first saw heaven in 1954, the day before her 20th birthday. During the birth of her son, James Michael "Agar" Hembree, her physical condition crashed due to significant blood loss. In the ensuing medical chaos, Kathleen found herself near a beautiful riverbank, overcome with a vivid sense of profound peace. She knew she was about to cross what she said must have been the Jordan River where she knew Jesus would receive her for eternity. Even in 1954, as a believer, she was eager to greet her Savior and take her place as an Appalachian alto in the heavenly chorus. But Kathleen had grown up listening to her father preach the Bible and knew from Ecclesiastes that there was a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. Whether this was the time for her to die was a decision she had to leave to the Lord. Turns out it was not the time just yet. The gift of this experience left her body filled with donated blood and her spirit full of joy and absolute confidence in the certainty, not just of Glory, but her place in it.

Kathleen was born on Greasy Creek in rural Bell County, Kentucky on January 22, 1934, to Mary Hannah Goodin Jordan and the Rev. Elisha Jordan. The Jordan family was also blessed with her sisters Cleo, Pearlie Thompson, Mary Osborne, and Rena Lasley as well as her brothers Green, Victor, Pascal, Rufus, Elisha Jr., Jackie and Claude. In 1953, Kathleen married James Edward (J.C.) Hembree and they remained married until his death in 1990.

A few years after the birth of her daughter, Debra Hembree Lambert, Kathleen began working at Pineville Hospital, the very hospital where doctors and nurses had worked so hard to save her and her son's life. Kathleen spent 24 years working as a nurse's aide and in Central Supply there where she loved on patients and coworkers as if they were family. She competed with her coworkers for bragging rights as the hospital's greatest practical joker, and as one of its champion blood donors. Having once depended upon the generosity of strangers to save her own life, Kathleen spent her remaining years returning the favor via blood donations. As Proverbs 17:22 teaches, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine...". Kathleen loved her work at the hospital and her work family. She also helped J.C. with his body shop paperwork but wasn't nearly as fond of that work.

After her retirement, Kathleen found joy in simple things: her family, Christmas lights, flowers, gardening and quilting. She was especially joyful when in the company of her granddaughters Michelle Robinson and Jamie Hembree, her grandsons Joseph Lambert and John Lambert, and her great-grandchildren Kristen Sinkhorn (Matthew) Mays, Alexia Hembree, and Baylee Turner.

Kathleen never met a stranger. If she met you, she, at least, liked you, but probably loved you. When she moved from Greasy Creek to live in Mount Vernon at age 70, some wondered whether she might find the transition difficult. Instead, she simply made a second batch of friends with whom to joyfully share her retirement years.

Kathleen was preceded in death by her parents and siblings; her husband, James Edward (J.C.) Hembree; her devoted and beloved daughter-in-law, Betty Jean (B.J.) Hembree; and both her granddaughters, Michelle and Jamie. She is survived by her son, James Michael (Agar) Hembree; her daughter, Debra Hembree Lambert and her husband, Joseph Sharpe; her grandsons, Joseph Lambert and John Lambert and his wife, Taylor DiSabatino Lambert; her step-granddaughters, Jessica (David) Guffey and Chelsea (Evan) Woolums; her great-granddaughters, and four step-great-grandsons, and two great-great-grandsons, a beloved sister-in-law, Mary Jordan, scores of nieces and nephews and numerous friends.

For more than seventy years, Kathleen lived with the memory of that beautiful riverbank and the deep peace she briefly found there. Now, at the age of 92, she finally has completed her crossing into heaven! We rejoice for her though our hearts are grieved. She would want us to thank the staff at Somerset Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility and Dr. Robert Graham Drake for their loving care of her in recent years, especially since they were her only contacts inside the facility during the long months where COVID restrictions cut off in-person visits.

Funeral services will be at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at Arnett & Steele Funeral Home with the Rev. Paul Wayne Goodin officiating. Burial will follow at the Green Hills Memorial Gardens in Middlesboro, Kentucky. Pallbearers will be family and friends.

The family will receive friends prior to the service, beginning at 12:00 PM and until the funeral hour at Arnett & Steele Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation in her memory to her father's former church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, 5636 Highway 92, Pineville, KY. 40977.

Arnett & Steele Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Pineville is honored to serve the Hembree Family.