Family mourns loved one

MOSES LAKE — Friends and family gathered Monday morning in Moses Lake to honor the life of Kirby Messer at his funeral.

Messer, 45, left behind his wife Lori and three children Braden, Colton and Hunter, and many other people who grew to love and support him in the community.

Lori explained through fund-raisers, donations and experimental cancer treatments, the community helped buy her more time with her husband.

Messer died last Tuesday from tumors growing on his brain. Between May 15 and June 22, the tumors began to grow aggressively and he was no longer responding to chemotherapy.

It was not the first time he dealt with cancer; he beat it in the past leading to the creation of the annual “Kirby Derby” fund-raiser.

Lori said she got to know Kirby in ways she never knew possible in the last few months of his life, even more than she did in the more than 20 years they were together. She explained the community helped to support her family so she could spend day and night with her husband.

“I just can’t thank the community enough for letting me stay home with my husband,” she said.

Lori explained Kirby did not suffer when he died. He continued to eat meals until the day before he died.

“He had no pain,” she said about his passing. “Kirby wasn’t in pain, which I thank God for.”

In his final days, doctors explained to the family Kirby had a few weeks left to live, but he passed sooner than expected. Lori said she sensed he was passing as that afternoon approached.

During their final moments together, he was surrounded by his family in his home, she explained. She told Kirby “he could go” and that she would be OK.

She went upstairs to write a poem she wanted to read at the funeral when he died. Lori explained she felt like Kirby waited for her to leave the room before he died so she would not have to endure seeing his death. Family members were holding his hands as he passed.

“It’s like he protected me,” she said crying.

She said her son told her that when Kirby passed, his eyes opened wide and he took in a deep breath of air, but seemed at peace like “he saw Heaven opening.”

She said Kirby left behind a legacy in their three boys.

In her sons, she sees Kirby’s eyes, his face and his body, Lori explained.

“I will never be a widow,” Lori said. “I will always be Mrs. Kirby Messer. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Kirby really was a one of a kind. I will never love another like him. I will always be married to him.”

She said the two of them have a special place near a river where both of their ashes will be spread together when the time comes.