KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Carrying their Kate Spade bags, friends Debbie Staab, Kathy Rohr and Margie Morrison were among the first mourners Thursday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Redemptorist Church, waiting to say a final goodbye to one of Kansas City's own _ designer Kate Spade, whose married name would become synonymous with a billion-dollar brand in handbags and accessories.
"We're Katy's classmates," Morrison said, adding that they and other friends in Kansas City had grown up knowing the fashion icon as their Brookside friend, Katy Brosnahan.
In the steady rain, Morrison and the others from St. Teresa's Academy's class of 1981 were waiting in their SUV outside the church at 3333 Broadway, three hours before Spade's 3 p.m. funeral service.
Rohr said at least 15 of their friends were headed to join them, all to sit together and to honor and remember their friend. Rohr took out her phone and showed a black-and-white photo from their high school years, more than dozen, smiling girls.
"That's Katy in the middle," Rohr said.
"She was incredibly kind and had a very memorable laugh," Morrison said.
Redemptorist holds up to 1,200 churchgoers. Just before the doors opened, about 1:45 p.m., more than 70 people had huddled outside in the rain near the doors. Many carried Kate Spade bags. At about 2:30, a hearse and cars carrying family members pulled up to the front of the church, which is expected to be filled to capacity with friends, loved ones and admirers, including Olivia Lott.
"I just feel like her vocation was to fill the world with beautiful things," Lott said.
Two minutes before the Mass was to start, the family sent a statement to the press saying Spade's 89-year-old father, Frank Brosnahan, died the night before.
"He had been in failing health of late and was heartbroken over the recent death of his beloved daughter," the statement read. "He was at home and surrounded by family at the time of his passing."
Angela Ross, owner of seven Kate Spade purses, three watches, four coffee mugs, earrings, a charger, case and notebook, and who for months had been planning a Kate Spade-themed birthday, arrived to pay her respects.
Christy Dover, 38, drove two hours with her friend Brittany Porter, from Brookfield, Mo., out of compassion and a sense of connection.
"We like Kate Spade's products _ we always have," she said. "Our town has been ravaged by suicides," including several teenagers within a year. Her uncle, she said, also took his life.
"We just feel for her," she said.
Jean Gubar of Kansas City attended middle school and high school with one of Spade's sisters. Gubar's father died in the Hyatt Hotel walkway collapse of 1981.
"I know the sting of sudden tragedy," she said. She added she once met Kate Spade. "She was such a nice person, so unpretentious.." Her voice caught with emotion as she wiped away tears. "I just wish she had reached out to someone."
Spade, 55, was found dead on the morning of June 5 inside her New York Park Avenue condominium, having taken her own life by hanging.
Soon after, family members quickly confirmed that although Spade had seemed happy on the day just prior to her death _ even talking about an upcoming trip to California with her 13-year-old daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade, known as Bea _ she also had been battling depression and anxiety for five years.
On Thursday, Kate Spade New York Foundation announced plans to donate $1 million to support suicide prevention and mental health awareness in honor of the company's late founder.
"Kate suffered from depression and anxiety for many years," Andy Spade, Spade's husband and business partner, wrote in a statement to The New York Times. Andy Spade is also the brother of actor and comedian David Spade.
"She was actively seeking help and working closely with her doctors to treat her disease," he wrote, "one that takes far too many lives. We were in touch with her the night before and she sounded happy. There was no indication and no warning that she would do this. It was a complete shock. And it clearly wasn't her. There were personal demons she was battling."
Reta Saffo, one of Spade's four sisters, told the Kansas City Star that she had long worried about her sister's mental health and that when she took her life, the act was "not unexpected." Spade's older brother, Earl Brosnahan _ who is the father of actress Rachel Brosnahan, the winner in 2018 of a Golden Globe for her role in "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" _ responded that Saffo had long been estranged from much of the family, other than Kate, and her interpretation was not accurate.
Andy Spade was not present at the time of his wife's death, nor was their daughter, who was at school. The couple had separated about 10 months prior to Spade's death, living in residences not far from each other. Their daughter split time with both mom and dad.
Andy Spade wrote that the couple, who married 24 years ago, had not discussed divorce.
"We were best friends trying to work through our problems in the best way we knew how," he wrote. "We were together for 35 years. We loved each other very much and simply needed a break."
Kate Spade reportedly left a note to her daughter that was found at the scene of her death telling her daughter she loved her and that her death was not her fault.
Debra Entine of Overland Park, who has suffered depression and arrived early at the funeral, said she hopes part of Spade's legacy will be to destigmatize mental illness.
In her obituary, which ran in The Star on Sunday, the family noted Spade's numerous achievements as a designer, but emphasized the humanity and character of a young woman, born on Christmas Eve 1962, and given the middle name Noel.
"Those who knew her personally can share stories of a phenomenally loving, giving, humble, warm and affectionate woman who tragically left this world far too soon," the obituary read. "Katy's determination was matched only by her generosity. Loyal almost to a fault, Katy could be counted on to support her friends and family in times of trouble without question or judgment. Her sense of humor was one of her most enduring and charming qualities. Her quick and infectious laugh still resonates in the minds of all who knew her. Katy was always perceptive. She always aspired to put the best interests of others ahead of her own. Katy will always be remembered lovingly for her conscientiousness and empathy. She loved animals. She was a devoted wife, mother, daughter and sister. Katy was kind beyond words to describe. She will be dearly missed by those who knew her and by the millions she inspired."
Soon after her death, Spade's father expressed his wish that his daughter's body be returned to Kansas City for burial nearby her mother, June Mullen Brosnahan, who died in 2010 and is buried at Forest Hill & Calvary Cemetery, 6901 Troost Ave.
"There were very close," Frank Brosnahan told The Star.
Spade leaves behind her husband, her daughter, her step-mother, Sandy Palmer, her brother Earl Brosnahan, and four sisters, Missy Brosnahan, Ann Brosnahan DiVita, Reta Brosnahan Saffo and Eve Mullen Brosnahan, along with various in-laws, nieces and nephews.
Spade attended Notre Dame de Sion grade school in Kansas City and graduated high school from St. Teresa's Academy. She attended the University of Kansas before transferring to Arizona State University, where she studied journalism. She met Andy Spade, who became an advertising executive, while at the university. Kate Spade went to work as an accessories editor at Mademoiselle magazine.
She left that job and, in 1993, she and her husband started the Kate Spade brand of handbags. The Neiman Marcus Group bought a controlling stake of the company in 1999. The company was sold in 2006 to the Liz Claiborne Co. for $124 million. Coach then bought it last year for $2.4 billion.
In 2016, Spade began a new brand, Frances Valentine, named for her daughter and linked to the middle name of her maternal grandfather, who was born on Valentine's Day. She debuted the new line at Halls in Crown Center. And she changed her name to Katherine Noel Frances Valentine Brosnahan Spade.
At Redemptorist, Spade is to be eulogized beneath the Gothic church's towering arched ceiling, painted blue. A life-size statue Christ on a wood cross stands prominently to the right of the white marble altar, often bathed in light from surrounding stained glass windows.
It is the same church, Frank Brosnahan said, where his parents _ Kate Spade's paternal grandparents _ were wed.
