Yow: It's Been A Wonderful Journey

((HT: WRAL-TV))

The extended family of Kay Yow gathered Friday ((photo courtesy/Chuck Liddy, Raleigh News and Observer)) to say their final goodbyes to North Carolina State University's longtime women's basketball coach. Yow, 66, died last Saturday morning after her third recurrence of breast cancer in five years.

"We did not lose one of us, we lost a part of us," said Rev. Stephen Davey, senior pastor at Colonial Baptist Church, told the hundreds of people gathered in the church for her funeral.

Davey said the memorial service was Yow's last chance to "challenge and impact all of our lives."

Yow taped a 20-minute video where she discussed her faith and said farewell.

"I don't want you to fret over the fact that I'm not here or question why I'm not here. God knows what he's doing," she said. "It's been a wonderful journey."
The video elicited laughs from the crowd as Yow related a story of a florist that mixed up cards on two floral arrangements, sending a "Congratulations on your new location" card to a funeral.

"Rejoice," she then told those in attendance. "I'm in a new location, a wonderful location."
People began streaming into the Cary church Friday morning for a public viewing of Yow's quilt-draped casket before the afternoon funeral for the coach who made her mark in women's basketball and the fight against breast cancer.

"Normally in your life, you affect maybe one or two people. She's affected thousands of young women and young men with her witness," said Tom Burleson, a former N.C. State basketball player. "We're just ... proud of what she's done and what she's accomplished, and whatever we can do to honor her is not enough."
University of North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee, Geno Auriemma of the University of Connecticut and Debbie Ryan of the University of Virginia, who also has battled cancer, were among Yow's former competitors who attended the funeral.

"Kay has had such an influence on my life," said Summitt, who tapped Yow as an assistant coach for the 1984 Olympic team. "She was just a great woman that had such great influence on me and everybody that she knew."

"Kay was a very, very big part of my life and (was) just a person that was very special," Ryan said. "It was just important that I be able to (attend her funeral)."
Yow arranged the funeral service before her death, including taping the 20-minute video a few years ago when her cancer returned and writing a poem about the limitations of the disease that was handed out to all who attended.

She didn't allow any current of former players speak at the service for fear of displaying favoritism, said Rev. Mitchell Gregory, pastor of Yow's church, Cary Alliance Church. Instead, he read notes and remembrances from a number of players.

Gregory said gentleness was Yow's hallmark, and she displayed it both on and off the basketball court.

"She was zealous about cultivating that virtue," Gregory said, "although gentleness dripped from her every action."
Yow's burial was scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in her hometown of Gibsonville. The burial service, which is open to the public, ends a week of public remembrances for her.

More than 4,100 people packed Reynolds Coliseum Thursday night for the Wolfpack women's first game since Yow's death. The team wore pink uniforms and shoes to honor her fight against breast cancer.

The campus also held a public tribute to her Wednesday night.

Coverage from the Raleigh News and Observer is in black...