Kimberley Michelle Stanley     March 28, 1971—December 1, 2016

Courageous, passionate, articulate, and a woman of great faith are all words that describe Kimberley Michelle Stanley — an author, award winning radio personality and motivational speaker. Throughout her journey of 45 years, Kimberley’s life was filled with many triumphs as well as tragedies, but through it all, she stood as a testament of God’s love, mercy and grace. Her beautiful smile illuminated her zeal and gratefulness for life. Throughout her many struggles, Kimberley would go on to encourage and impact countless people along the way.

Kimberley was born on March 28, 1971 at University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.  From the beginning, her parents Reverend Julius and Bettye Stanley recognized something very special in their child. Little Kimberley loved to read, write and with bible in hand, “play” church. Kimberley was also heavily influenced by the strength and wisdom of her Grandmother Ida Mae Fisher. She grew up in Second Ebenezer Baptist Church under Pastor A.L. Owens.  At the young age of 8, Kim gave her life to Jesus Christ, was baptized by her father and became very active in every aspect of church from youth activities to the choir. Surviving a near fatal tornado in Bedford in 1985, was an indication of her courageous spirit, but more storms were ranging that would test every fiber of her faith.

In 1987, Kimberley, a sophomore at Bedford High School was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and given just 8 months to live. Upon hearing about her situation, the Make a Wish Foundation granted Kim a special trip to New York City to see the taping of the Cosby Show and meet the entire cast. Kimberley would continue to defy the odds. She went on to be a voice for other teens facing cancer being featured in commercials for the Leukemia Society Telethon and other cancer awareness campaigns.  Her literary works, essays and poems were also distributed in a number of American Cancer Society publications. With the help of Congressman Louis Stokes, Kimberley was a guest on Capitol Hill and her essays, entitled, “I Know How You Feel” and “I Know It’s Getting Rough” were featured and listed in the Congressional Record. Kim’s story would get the attention of local, state and national officials including correspondences from First Lady Nancy Reagan and President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.

In spite of her battles with cancer and even near death experiences, Kimberley completed her high school education at Bedford High in 1989 in the top third of her class and even took three young men to the prom including her close friend Eric Warren. She was accepted to attend Kent State University where she enrolled fall semester.  Kimberley did not let her illness stop her from making an impact on campus.

She made many friends and even served on a panel discussing her plight and challenges with cancer. Shortly after, Kimberley would have to withdraw from Kent due to a deteriorated collapsed lung, which had to be removed.

Her road to recovery continued. In 1991, she and her family became members of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church and shared a very special bond with their Pastor Reverend Otis Moss Jr. Kimberley became very active at Olivet and after doing church announcements, Reverend Moss who noticed her extraordinary professional crystal clear articulate voice asked if she had ever thought of going into broadcasting. Her family said Kim got her powerful delivery from her father Reverend Stanley who also had a similar oratory gift of delivering the Word of God.

Kim did enroll at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting receiving her broadcast certification. She interned at WERE 1300-AM and then landed a position as Radio Personality at WABQ 1540-AM Radio in 1992.  Over the next six years, Kim Stanley held several positions including Account Executive for all National Sales and some local and regional accounts. She also became the Production Manager responsible for all sound going over the air including commercials, news, pre-recorded and remote broadcasts, the business directory, all updates and the delivery of proclamations. With her unique articulate delivery style, Kim Stanley would become one of the most popular female radio announcers in Northeast Ohio and received multiple awards including recipient of the 1993 Favorite Female Announcer from the North Coast Music Awards. Kim served as Mistress of Ceremonies for numerous gospel concerts, Playhouse Theatre productions and was a Narrator for the Christmas Story Musical at Case Western Reserve. She also was a guest lecturer at Case on the subjects of Voice and Speech.

After being told by her physicians that she and her former husband would most likely never conceive, Kim gave birth to her miracle baby, Christopher Julius Ferguson on June 13, 1998.  Unfortunately, tragedy struck. Just six weeks after his birth, an accident would take Baby Christopher’s life and leave Kim in a coma fighting for hers. Kim suffered, brain damage, partial memory loss and with the assistance of Heather Hill Rehabilitation Center learned how to walk, talk and function again all while dealing with extreme grief. The world responded to Kim’s tragedy including former classmate Actress Halle Berry.  Months later, Kim would be reminded by University Hospitals that at his birth she had registered Baby Christopher in their Cord Blood Program and because his blood was a perfect match, he could literally save her life if needed.

It was 18 months later that Kim received another gift from God with the birth of their second son, Christian Stanley Ferguson. She took great pride in being a caring, nurturing and loving mother.