Amy Kees

Rev. Dr. Amy Iola Kees, a longtime resident of Boulder, passed away on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 surrounded by her loving family. Amy was born on November 17, 1914 in Broken Bow, Nebraska to Elmer and Edna (Oxford) Merritt. Amy had four bothers all born in Broken Bow, Nebraska: Claude Merritt, Grant Merritt, Howard Merritt (Dot), Alvie Merritt (Pat). Amy married the love of her life Fred C. Kees on April 9th, 1933 and together they had one daughter, Dorothe J. (Kees) Blackmere.
Amy graduated from high school in Pittsburg, Kansas and received an Associates Degree in Fine Arts from Lutheran College in Pittsburgh, Kansas and a Nursing Degree in Compton, California. She was a chiropractic nurse during WWII and a LPN at Saint Francis Hospital and Mission Hospital in Bell Gardens, California. She was a published writer and poet in the American Poetry and Anthology Association. Amy taught metaphysics and held a Certificate of Theology from Unity. She traveled extensively throughout the Continental United States and Hawaii teaching seminars and providing counseling.
Amy and Fred Kees, with their daughter Dorothe by their side, founded the Church of Tzaddi in 1964 in Bell Gardens, California. Tzaddi was originally called the Open Door of Love. Tzaddi is a metaphysical church that welcomes and supports people in experiencing the infinite, loving, co-creative presence of the divine and exhorts people to develop their relationship with God through higher consciousness attained through prayer, meditation, service, and growth. Tzaddi considers heart as the most important doorway to God, love as the highest expression of God, and the physical body to be the temple of God on Earth. Amy and Dorothe retired as co-founding Bishops of the Tzaddi Church in 1991 and Tzaddi has since spread throughout the United States with a presence in Mexico, Africa, and the United Kingdom. Amy and Dorothe co-authored the book Developing Spiritually (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/developingspiritually).
Amy moved to Niwot, Colorado in 1982 from Orange County, California. She enjoyed music, counseling and crocheting. She loved an occasional cold beer, Sees Chocolates, and a good game of cards. Amy experienced good health right up until the end of her 98 years of life.
Amy Kees is survived by her grandchildren, Cindy (David) Euler, Tiffany (Mamoum) Rhazi, Fred (Connie) Blackmere, ReaAnne (Shannon) Roseman, Victor (Ilka) Blackmere, and Lynda Blackmere, and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents Elmer and Edna Merritt, her husband Frederick C. Kees, her four younger brothers: Claude Merritt, Grant Merritt, Alvie Merritt, and Howard Merritt, one granddaughter Nancy Elizabeth Campbell, and her daughter Dorothe J. Blackmere.
A Celebration of her wonderful 98 years of life will be held in the late spring of 2013, in Estes Park, Colorado. At that time, we will commemorate the loving memories of Amy I. Kees and her daughter Dorothe J. Blackmere’s remarkable lives on this earth.