Wednesday, October 10, 2018

RIP: Goodbye to Kathee

I can't remember how or when I met Kathee Rengert, a West Marlborough friend and neighbor who died on October 6. Maybe it was through our love of gardening; or through mutual friends; or maybe through the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup, of which she was the longtime executive director.
Kathee was so active, so distinctive and so vital that a lot of us are having a hard time thinking of her as gone; she died shortly after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I just wrote about her over the summer when she spoke at a township meeting, playing for the supervisors two recordings of noise from the gun club near her house.
It didn't matter that Kathee and I disagreed on a lot of issues. I was always delighted to see her, and she always had some interesting news (and, in season, garden cuttings) to share. She knew so much about birds and horticulture: I was always dismayed when she'd inform me that a favorite plant was actually "invasive" (one of her least favorite things).
At her request, her memorial service was held at London Grove Friends Meeting. The meeting house was packed with a diverse crowd that reflected so many facets of her life: tennis partners; Hunt Cup colleagues; friends from Fair Hill and the bloodstock world; neighbors; hiking partners; photography friends.
Her two sisters are asking that memorial contributions go to the Arbor Day Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Brandywine Conservancy, or the Chester County Library System. 
 

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