There are so many things I can say about Kathy... She was truly an inspirational and incredible human. Her decades of work as a PA in a specialty and geographic area she loved touched the lives of innumerable people. Her passion for teaching has helped create more PAs with the skills and heart to bring compassionate and expert care to the geriatric population and those needing palliative and hospice care. Her legacy lives on through the library of presentations she has given at conferences all over the country as well as the Oxford textbook that was published in 2021. 

Also - Kathy was an avid fan of sci-fi and fantasy, and a fellow Star Trek fan, something I could not have suspected when I first met her, but was delighted to find out as I got to know her. 

She will be greatly missed and always remembered.

I met Kathy as PAHPM was in its early stage of development, I was delighted that Nadya Dimitrov introduced us, and all were excited that a surgical guy and palliative lady would work so well together.  She was quick to endorse my concept of an alliance between PAHPM and AASPA, and was always there if either BOD had questions.  Her strong but quiet demeanor could easily guide a BOD to success.

I was delighted to find out that she had a shared love of colchicine to manage the most stubborn constipation in our elderly patients.  Thank you, thank you, Kathy for inspiring me and so many!

Kathy is a special soul you don’t encounter every day. She always had an air of quiet wisdom about her that was noticeable the moment you met her. Each conversation I had with her, I learned more about her and she was more interesting and complex than her calm and quiet demeanor would suggest. Those of us gifted with the privilege of working along side her in any number of capacities know she cared deeply for others. This was evident not only in her work but the way she lived her life. Her legacy lives on in the patients, students, colleagues, family, and friends she inspired.

Happy trails, my friend.

Dear sweet soul who longed for peace and a good ending for all of her patients could have her own dream fulfilled while reminding those who follow and champion her path, while emulating the best and avoiding and redefining the worst. while we mourn her dearly we can now feel glad that the space she maintained will always shine with her memory and her incredible sweet smile. there are few who can come beside them without feeling the glow of her as she laughed gently with the stories of other lives she met along the way

dear sweet soul who gave us all the ability to feel close as we held her up to the lofty place she deserves as a paragon of strength she stood where humility beyond hope is there, perseverance to complete the task with an uncanny ability to allow art to enhance her words on a screen with the lifting voice that softly made it all work out

to the end game, to the knowledge that we cannot choose how we go or can we... indeed guide the spirit to bring her there. while we disguise as she did hers, our own avitars to face the game and laugh at it all again.

dear sweet soul who seemed to bless even the passing of my four-legged spirit as one she could also know as her own. run and smile with them all.

Dear Colleagues:

This card is from our friends at Cal State San Marcos' Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care:

https://www.groupgreeting.com/sign/6c4ee80b911f067