Katherine Abt

 Katherine Abt, who spent much of her life believing her name was spelled KathArine, died Feb. 8, 2021, in her home in Yardley, PA. She died as she lived – exactly as she wanted, when she wanted. Well, OK, so it took a little longer than she wanted, but what can one say about someone so strong willed? She just couldn’t let go that easily.

Kathy grew up in Stamford, CT, the beloved daughter of John and Ivy Bridge, and younger sister of Joe (Josiah) Bridge. Living on Lanark Road in Shippan was idyllic for her. She was close to the beach, and surrounded by friends. Kathy attended Radcliffe College (graduating in 1954), living with her aunt, Elizabeth Crosby Bridge Weissbach. Kathy and Elizabeth had many wonderful cocktail parties, and the amount of stemware used is astonishing!

While in college, Kathy had a wonderful group of pals, including Leonard Cohen (yes, really, truly, we have the proof!), Freda Guttman, Nancy Martin, Mark Strand and Samuel Abt. She married Sam and the two started the journeyman life of a budding journalist (Sam) and book editor (Kathy). They ended up in Baltimore, where they bought a house in Bolton Hill, at the beginning of the push for urban revitalization. Two daughters, Claire and Phoebe, were born in Baltimore and know Bolton Hill as home.

Kathy and Sam divorced, with Sam moving to New York and then Paris, France. Kathy and the girls moved to Wyoming, where Kathy married the cowboy they’d met on a previous summer vacation. Thank goodness he provided a real home for his new family, because they’d lived in a chuck wagon in the mountains, as he tended his cattle on the range during that summer. While that sounds idyllic, ummm, nope! But the romance of the range, the grandeur of the mountains, and the adventures captivated Kathy. For five years in Wyoming, there was no adventure she didn’t want to tackle. Canoeing in Jenny Lake? Hiking the Rockies? Rodeoing? Feeding the horses and cows on the ranch?  Skiing – both cross-country and downhill? Branding the calves and harvesting Rocky Mountain oysters (which she refused to eat)? Thanks to Kathy’s insatiable delight in the experiences, her daughters are able to boast about walking a mile through 10-foot-high snow drifts, to catch the bus for the 30-mile ride to the two room K-8 school house! Kathy turned her culinary expertise to taming the wildlife that was a staple of the diet. For the record, there is no way to truly make moose taste yummy. While in Wyoming, Kathy took turns editing the local newspaper, editing and writing for Teton magazine, substitute teaching, managing a bookstore and owning and running a day care center. That last venture set her professional path for the next many years.

Sadly, Kathy felt she could not provide for her girls in the way she wanted to while in Wyoming – the economics of a tourism-based environment are very difficult. After five years of riding, skiing, hiking, canoeing, and working, she packed up the girls and the canoe (but not the family’s horses, much to her enduring disappointment!) and moved back to Baltimore. She and the cowboy divorced, with much sadness and no acrimony.

After a few attempts to rejoin the editing profession, Kathy started work at the Department of Social Services, Division of Day Care, working with a wonderful team of dedicated people. While working there, she returned to school and achieved her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Development, and built and delivered programs throughout the city focused on childcare and education. She was passionate and enthusiastic about this work, which was a wonderful and fulfilling opportunity … until Ronald Reagan was elected and eliminated much-needed human needs funding. Her programs and staff were disbanded, an act that truly broke her heart.

One of Kathy's favoritee pieces of advice to her daughters was, “No free time,” meaning that you work when you work, but when you’re not working, live your life. Kathy did so, with tremendous breadth and depth. She was a season ticket holder to the Orioles; a season ticket holder to the Metropolitan Opera; a regular attendee at the Left Bank Jazz Society (she was reminiscing just last week about the collard greens that were part of the dinner platter there); multiple book clubs; season ticket holder to the Baltimore Symphony; attendee to any and all museums and galleries, and truly, one of the first foodies. Whether visiting restaurants in Little Italy or Fells Point (Sip and Bite, anyone?), or taking visitors to Ikaros or The Dizz, Kathy was truly a connoisseur of cuisine. She loved the variety of wonderful food in Baltimore, and was always ready to try something new or return to a favorite.

Kathy was also an amazing cook and entertainer. For years, she hosted annual parties where she prepared all the food herself, then opened the doors of her house to the eclectic horde of friends. Members of Quaker meetings, colleagues from DSS, peace activists, neighbors – all were welcome.
Kathy eventually took early retirement, and used her new-found free time to return to school. This time around, she devoted herself to taking every art history, music theory and appreciation, Spanish and Italian course in the Towson State catalog! She accomplished this, and insisted on taking regular trips to Italy to “practice my Italian.” She traveled extensively, managing to hit almost every place on her list: Alaska, Peru, China, Provence, Italy, and throughout the U.S. The one trip she never made was to take a mail boat through the fjords of Norway.

Kathy moved into her daughter Claire’s home, in Yardley, PA, a few years ago, and spent the last years reading books and the New York Times front to back, attending simulcasts of the Met Opera performances, eating incredible Thai and Indian food, and binge-watching all kinds of streaming TV. Cobra Kai? Check. Lucifer? Check. DCI Banks? Check. And, lest we forget, Star Trek Discovery and Picard? Check and check! And yes, you damn well better believe she voted. In the middle of the pandemic and postal delays, she got out, waiting in line and deposited her ballot. And she watched her candidate be inaugurated as the 46th president. Democracy lives on.

Kathy is survived by her daughters Claire, of Yardley, PA, and Phoebe, of La Honda, CA, Claire’s husband Alex and their daughter, Elizabeth. She also leaves behind a treasure trove of incredible friends, who kept in touch with her and continued to expand her world. Finally, she leaves behind her 45-year New York Times subscription, which is so frequently not delivered that Alex has the non-responsive circulation department on speed dial.
In lieu of flowers, support human needs funding, work for peace, wear your damn mask properly and for your sake, vote Democratic! She didn’t get sick from Covid, and neither should you!