VERY SAD NEWS:
We share the news of the death of our beloved Class President Kathleen (Kate) Barnes Grant on Wednesday, February 12. Many of us were aware of Kate’s ongoing health issues and recent hospitalizations; Kate’s husband, Jim, wrote when he notified us of her passing that “her cascading infections proved too much for her poor compromised liver and immune system.”
Kate was an American Studies major and lived in Lamont and Gillett Houses while at Smith. After Smith, she received a Masters degree in Education from Harvard University, with a focus on counseling psychology. Kate’s professional career was focused on education; she retired from the Catlin Gabel School, where she had been Director of College Counseling. Kate resided in Portland, OR and, in addition to her husband, is survived by their son Charlie and daughter Libby, Smith ’18.
Kate’s commitment to Smith and to our Class was unsurpassed. She served as our first Class Secretary after graduation and, for the last five years, as our Class President. She was President of the Alumnae Association of Smith College from 2013-2017 and had previously chaired the AASC Nominating Committee. She additionally sat on the Smith College Board of Trustees.
We would like to suggest that we honor Kate with gifts to the Centennial Class of ‘75 Endowed Scholarship Fund in her memory. She dealt with her illness with courage, humor, no complaints; she persevered and was so looking forward to leading us and seeing everyone at our 50th Reunion in May. She exemplified what a true Smithie is in so many ways. Everyone who knew Kate loved her. May she rest in peace and may her memory be a blessing to her family, friends and the College she cared so much about.
Check out the ’75 Live page under the Home tab or click this link. You will need a password: The name of the Bookstore which was on Green Street during our years at Smith. (The name starts with a Q.) Still stumped? Click here for your hint or contact Frieda or Andrea
We encourage you to explore the other pages of our website – several are updated from time to time, especially the In Memoriam and our fundraising page, The H’Art of Giving.
Don’t forget the dates for our 50th(!!): May 15-18, 2025. We hope to see you there!
A note about privacy: This home page is public. Some pages will be password protected so that they will be accessible only to you and your classmates. See note above about the password.
Stay in touch, as well, by joining our Smith College ’75 Facebook Group. It’s a “Closed” group – open only to members of our class who request to join or who are personally invited by classmates. So pictures and posts are not public. For those leery of joining Facebook for privacy reasons, you can adjust settings such that only those you invite or accept have access to your profile and further customize to limit their access.
For the 2020-2025 term, Frieda Malcolm and Andrea (“Andi”) Acker Strone are serving as Co-Media Chairs handling the class website and Facebook page. Frieda is the principal “webperson” . Andi is the principal administrator of our Class Facebook Group page. They look forward to your input.