Kate Vanatta has written a children’s book called My Favorite Place to Be. The inspiration for her book is Kelly Vanatta, a 1993 Gallatin High School graduate who passed away from non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the summer of 2006 at the age of 31.
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Kate had been trying to write the book since Kelly passed, but always struggled with how to start.
“I knew the ending, so one day, two summers ago, I just decided it needed to be done,” Kate says. “I wrote it backwards, from the last page to the first, and it fell into place that way.”
It took her only two days to finish it.
Kelly was very close to her family’s heart. He was her husband Clint’s brother, a favorite uncle of her children, and a first grade teacher at Grandview Elementary in Higginsville.
Kelly’s was not the first death for the family — Kate’s mother had passed a year before — but Kelly’s passing was the first to cause real trauma.
“We were broken-hearted of course when my mother died, but in a child’s mind, old people die,” says Kate. “But Kelly was young, vibrant, and full of life. They had a difficult time understanding why it was happening to him.”
The illness wore Kelly down and took a toll on his usually upbeat personality. When he died, there was not much Kate could say or do to console either one of her children. Her daughter was four at the time and her son was 12.
“Due to his age, my son could better understand, but my daughter really had a hard time with it. I tried to explain it to her in a manner she would grasp.”
When Kate explained it a certain way — describing Kelly’s heart as a person that God spoke to — her daughter just got it.
“When I explained that her Uncle Kelly’s heart got tired of beating, she never asked another question. At the time I thought it could be helpful to other kids.”
She also saw the book as a testimony to Kelly.
“Kids were his life,” Kate says. “He loved teaching and helping kids. The book is our way to make sure he continues to do that.”
Her son is now 24 and her daughter is 16. Their concept of death has changed as they have matured. But they still came away with new insights from the book.
“Different people from different walks of life and different ages have read it, and everybody comes out with something,” Kate says. “It’s reassuring to children and to adults, it’s just a reminder.”
The book may be purchased online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, or locally at Elbert’s Department Store in Gallatin.
“I never wanted my kids to be afraid of death, or think it was the ultimate end,” Kate says. “Kelly had a strong faith and was active in his community church. The book is a Christian book. It is about a journey and Heaven is the Favorite Place to Be.”