Kelly Rule Yount, R.I.P.

I met Kelly Yount about six years ago, as I do so many people, in the course of publishing this blog-turned-website. She had reached out to me and we met for lunch as two total strangers, and it was a two-hour lunch with iced tea — no wine even. I mean, we clicked.

She was a beautiful blonde attorney, very much like my own daughter, and we had so much to talk about and share. I learned that she was from Knoxville, Tennessee, that she had three beautiful children, that she was a lawyer in real estate law.

I knew she loved ranches and animals.

We kept in touch through CandysDirt.com and of course, Facebook.

A few years ago, she reached out to me after a tragedy in my own family and graciously invited me and my daughter and grand-daughter to a beautiful meal at her home. That is where we met her pet pig, Daisy, a baby piglet at the time.

We have been in touch since, talked about grabbing lunch or a glass of wine, but our busy lives just got in the way.

Sometimes I wonder why we cannot just push pause on this world and everything in it. I’m not saying stop, but pause. A breather. A chance to reach out to people and just connect, then hit the start button again and get on with it.

Because the one time I did that with Kelly, I met a beautiful person who will be in my heart forever.

Kelly passed on Friday, May 3. She was 48. She leaves three precious children: Megan, Mitchell, and Christian; her sister, Lisa Rule; her brother, Trace Rule; her mother Donna Van Camp; and father Kelly Hugh Rule.

She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduated from Alcoa High School, and graduated college at Texas A&M University. Her law degree is from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.

Kelly was a title attorney at Capital Title.

According to her obituary, “Kelly enjoyed food blogging at local restaurants, vacationing with her family and spending as much time as possible at her ranch property in south Texas with her pig, Daisy.”

I know she adored her children. I heard all about them that day we connected, Kelly’s eyes glowing.

The Memorial Service will be held at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home on Saturday, May 11, at 3 p.m. A reception will take place following the service.

The family has asked to please consider memorial donations to Kelly’s children or to My Pig Filled Life sanctuary, where Daisy will now live.

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