Kelsey (Mary) Rickenbaker Bigelow

For those of you who knew Kelsey, I know you remember her fondly. I also know that as time goes on, and this church grows, there will be those that didn't get to meet or know her, and deserve to know a bit about one of the founders of St. Catherine Orthodox Church.

Kelsey was a child of South Carolina, and loved the beaches and barbeque of the State. Her father ran a BBQ restaurant, and many of her fondest memories were of helping her parents in their restaurant, riding her minibike, playing tennis with friends, and caring for her pet monkey.

She loved clothes, design, and fashion, eventually graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, and then graduating the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, a specialized school to training for the Advertising and Marketing fields. She then moved to Jackson, MS to work at Maris West & Baker advertising, where she won many awards for her work as Art Director.

She met her husband Jason in Jackson in 1999, where they were chrismated and married at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church. She took the name Mary, after hearing the moving story of St. Mary of Egypt. Their two daughters Lizzy and Lula were both baptized there by Father Paul Yerger. Matushka Sissy Yerger become a spiritual mother to Kelsey, as well as Cathy Lawson, he sponsor. Kelsey lovingly abandoned her career in advertising to be a full time mom to her girls, also homeschooling them. Besides church, this was the joy of her life.

While living in North Carolina, along with a few other families, Kelsey helped found St. Basil the Great Orthodox Church in Wilmington, NC. Father Marcus Burch became a family counsel and friend, bonding with Kelsey over their shared memories of growing up in their beloved South Carolina. Also, while living there, Kelsey was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, which she bravely fought and believed to have beat. In 2018, she also helped found St. Catherine Orthodox Church in Columbus, MS. In 2020, a few months after turning 50, she found out the cancer had returned, reposing on May 26th, 2021.

If Kelsey had a few legacies, it was her love for the beauty of the Church. She believed in the power of order and beauty, both in her own home, and for honoring the liturgy. She loved decorating and making sure the church was beautiful and welcoming, with candles, icons, and food all lovingly organized. She also relished being Godmother to Virgil Hawkins and Clara Rosenblatt, and the friendships of all the members of St. Catherine.

However, the best way to know and remember Kelsey is to know her daughters. Every best aspect of Kelsey is ever present and alive in Lizzy and Lula. If you know them, if you experience their grace, creativity, tenacity, love for the music and beauty of the Church, love for animals and fashion, their wicked sense of humor, fierce friendships, generosity of spirit, and pursuit of the divine, then you know Kelsey. May her memory be eternal!