Jennifer Kate ‘Katie’ McLean Dobesh, 47
Jennifer Kate “Katie” McLean Dobesh was a loving daughter, a caring wife, a loyal sister, a doting aunt, and an incredible friend. After a courageous battle with cancer, Katie left this life to be with our Lord on June 12, 2021. She will be greatly missed by many that loved her.
Katie rushed into this life on Jan. 25, 1974, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Rodney and Jimmie Ann McLean. Jimmie Ann barely made it to the delivery room before Katie arrived. Katie refused to slow down for the next 47 years. Katie was raised with an older sister and three brothers. She grew up along the Gulf Coast in the small town of Grand Chenier, Louisiana. While in Louisiana, young Katie became very active in sports, enjoyed riding horses, climbed trees like a squirrel, and trekked barefoot through many pastures, blazing her own trail. This love of the outdoors and her desire to explore continued into her adult life, launching a great appreciation for nature and adventure.
At the age of 12, Katie’s parents decided to relocate to Kalispell. This is where Katie’s adventurous spirit and love for the outdoors soared. She was an avid skier and developed a love for hiking in the mountains. Katie would hike the trails throughout Northwest Montana, among many other places, any chance she could. When it came to hiking, Katie had no fear, wouldn’t accept bad attitudes, and confronted some of the toughest hiking trails around. Companions had better be ready to keep up because she was not slowing down. She would start earlier than other hikers, fearing they would “scare off the grizzlies” before she could take photographs of the bears. Katie took thousands of nature photos throughout the hundreds of miles that she hiked, and thousands more of the numerous locations, people and family members around the globe that she visited.
Katie graduated from Flathead High School in 1992. Due to her experiences at a young age while in Louisiana, Katie had a desire to become a veterinarian. Katie later decided to transition to pediatric nursing, graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa in 1999. Later that year, she started her career at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. After taking care of a baby cardiac patient, Katie was inspired to continue her education, earning her master’s degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. She started working as a neonatal nurse practitioner in 2003, working in the neonatal ICU for almost 18 years, never slowing down. Katie was truly passionate about her job, saving and caring for many babies.
In January of 2016, Katie met Craig Dobesh and they immediately hit it off. Sharing many common interests, they were virtually inseparable from the start. Katie and Craig would enjoy taking hikes, weekend road trips, attending festivals and sporting events, and participating in various outdoor activities. As their relationship grew, Craig proposed, Katie accepted, and they were married at St. Mary’s Church in Plantersville, Texas, on Aug. 3, 2019.
Katie raced through life, from one adventure to the next, blazing her own trail through the wilderness, never slowing down. Her kindness and generosity profoundly affected everyone, and she left an indelible mark on each person she met.
Katie is survived by her husband Craig Dobesh, her parents Rodney and Jimmie Ann McLean, her brothers Douglas, Duncan and Donald McLean, her older sister Bonnie Matheson, and many nieces and nephews, all of whom she truly adored, and who will deeply miss their Aunt “KK.”
"Visitation will be held on June 19 at 3 p.m. at Moore Funeral Home, 1219 North Davis Drive, Arlington, Texas. Funeral sServices will be held on June 21 at 2 p.m., also at Moore Funeral Home."
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“Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.” — Robert Frost