Kimberly Marie Potrament Lathrop, 56
Kimberly Marie Potrament Lathrop, 57, of Portland, Ore., passed away June 30, 2023.
Kim was born at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale Minn., on July 5, 1966 to John and Marty Potrament.
At 3 weeks old, Kim and her parents, moved to downtown Lancaster, Minn., where they lived in an apartment over Gil Wilson’s Café and variety store.
Kimberly was baptized at the Holy Rosary church in Orleans, Minn., in Sept. 25, 1966. Her godparents were both cousins of her dad’s, Tom Wilebski and Kathleen Uscenski. Kimberly and her parents returned to Minneapolis in January of 1967. They moved back to Kittson County in February of 1971.
In September of 1971, Kim started school in St. Vincent, Minn., part of the Humboldt School District.
Kimberly was enrolled at the Hallock Elementary School in October of 1976, graduated from Hallock High School on June 1, 1984, and was confirmed in her faith the next day at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Hallock.
She started babysitting at the age of 12, and at 16, she was working as a kitchen aide at Kittson Memorial Hospital and still babysitting for some of her favorite people.
In November of 1984, she moved to Dickinson, N.D., where she worked at a variety of jobs before moving to Two Inlets, Minn., in 1985. There, she lived with her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Francis, and worked for a nearby resort cleaning cabins. In September of 1985, Kim got a different job and rented an apartment above the theater in Park Rapids, Minn. She met her husband, Leland Roger Lathrop, while living there and they were married on April 4, 1987, in Hubbard, Minn.
Their first child, Bruce Leland Lathrop, was born in Park Rapids in 1988.
The company her husband was working for transfered them to Crosby, Minn., in 1989. They bought a two bedroom home and in 1992, their daughter, Leah Ashley Lathrop, was born.
In 1997, Kim and her family moved back to Park Rapids, where Kim provided daycare in her home. On Aug. 12, 2000, the family moved to Pekin, Ind., as Leland’s job dictated a transfer there.
In 2003, they moved to Litchfield, Minn. At this time Kim was working through the internet as a special order calligrapher, which she really loved.
Kimberly was born with a urethral reflux problem which she had surgery at the University of Minnesota. She was only 6 years old at this time and the doctors told her parents that she would never be free of problems with her urinary tract. She suffered innumerable urine infections all her life. She developed bladder cancer at 55 and was diagnosed as terminal in April of 2023. Kim was determined to live until her 57th birthday but died five days shy of that date.
She is survived by: her two children, Bruce Lathrop, Detroit Lakes, Minn., and Leah Corniliussen, Alexandria, Minn.; her two grandsons, Paysen and Jett Corneliussen; her parents, John and Marty (Francis) Potrament, Hallock; sister, Melissa Braun, Lake Bronson, Minn.; brothers, Johnny Potrament, Jr., South Dakota, and Christopher Potrament, Louisiana; nine nieces and nephews and many other relatives and friends.
A memorial will be held Saturday, Aug. 19, 2-4 p.m. at The Station, Hallock. All of Kim’s friends are welcome to come and celebrate her life.
