Kimberly Kay Osterbur Walden passed on September 4, 2024 after a 4 year battle with metastatic breast cancer.
But REJOICE! She heard the country twang of Alan Jackson playing nearby, saw the campfire, and joined her sweet Waldo for eternity.
Kim was born to Randall and Sandra Harlan Osterbur on December 4, 1971 and had a magnificently average Midwestern childhood growing up in Ogden with her sister, Kelly (Eric) Kuchefski. Her parents always encouraged her interests in the sciences, and she fell in love with nature and insects, in particular.
Kim graduated from St. Joseph-Ogden High School in 1990 and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Millikin University in Decatur in 1994. She was a member of the social sorority, Alpha Chi Omega and met life-long sisters there. She married Michael Lee Walden on January 1, 1994, her high-school sweetheart, and they were blessed with two children, Spencer Michael in 2000 and Samantha Grace in 2008.
Kim and Mike enjoyed almost 25 years together until he preceded her in death on February 4, 2011 due to septic shock. She earned her Master’s of Science Degree in Entomology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. She then worked as a lab manager for 20 years for Dr. Hugh Robertson, to whom she will always be indebted to for his kindness and generosity throughout her career in the Department of Entomology. When Hugh retired, Kim began working for the Carver Biotechnology Center in 2017, joining the High-Performance Computing in Biology research group.
See More at: https://www.freesefh.com/obituary/Kimberly-Walden
