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IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Kathryn I.
Berry
September 27, 1938 – January 14, 2018
Obituary
Kathryn Isabella Berry passed on January 13, 2018 of natural causes. She was survived by sister, Judith Munson and by her sons' Jon, Steve, and Jason, and her grandsons Corbin, Colin, Jake, Tanner, Hayden and Danny. She had one niece, Kim Mueller, three nephews, Chris Miller, Jeff and Brian Shutts. She had one great niece, Danielle Mejia, and two great grant Aunt of Leilani and Analayna.
She grew up in Ballston Spa New York. Her father worked for GE and her mother was a nurse. Katherine had a fierce independent, adventurous spirit. At a young age, because she didn't like being called Katherine, she changed her name to Kim – made from her initials. She was the eldest of three children and loved her brother and sister very much. Both her brother and sister saw her as brilliant, providing advice, encouragement, and support- often unsolicited.
Kathryn graduated high school in 1956. Upon graduation she received a scholarship to St. Luke's where she studied nursing. She received her nursing degree and began her life's adventures.
Kathryn's passion for travel took her to Europe -where she fell in love with Italy and was disenchanted with France. Other places she traveled were Hawaii, Tahiti, Copenhagen, and Stockholm.
It was after her travels throughout the world that she and her sister Judy became close. Kathryn joined her family in Florida where she met and married Roger Berry. After they were married, the adventure continued by moving from one coast to another – California.
In California, she continued her nursing career in Los Angles and began a family. She and Roger had three wonderful sons. They were very active: Dessert in the winter meant riding dune buggies, motorcycling and camping. The river in the summer meant boating, swimming, and baseball playing. Katheryn loved Jon, Steve, and Jason dearly and seeing her boys exceling in life – in everything they did. Katheryn admired her sons as men.
Family continued to be a focus of Kathryn's life. As her sons started their families, Katheryn spent a great deal of time with her grandchildren. She loved everything about being "Grammy" – from changing diapers to running them to their baseball games, talking about travels and experiences. Her grandsons recall Grammy had so much pride for her family and being together. "Grammy provided safety." She was always so happy to see the grandchildren and took the most of all of her time to be with them. Grammy was always a great person to be with. She always had great stories to tell and was always excited when they would go to see her. Consequently, in 2005, Kathryn took another adventure – moving from one coast back to the other – Florida – because Kathryn appreciated being so close to her grandchildren -- Living right down the street so she could see them all the time and she could see them too.
Kathryn never had any girl children but her niece Kim was her name sake. In the early years, when together with family, they were called "Big Kim and Little Kim." Little Kim always appreciated the window of times they had together. And during a particularly hard time, Kim provided support, kindness, and a belief that changed the course of her niece's life forever. Kathryn's niece always saw her aunt as strong woman, who rose to intellectual challenges.
Then Jen came into the family and Kathryn was so excited because she had her daughter because who shared a passion for nursing. Kathryn became Jen's biggest encourager. They would sit on the phone and talk about everything nursing. They spent hours together, working through issues around nursing. Jen saw Kathryn as a valuable supporter to ensure the success of her nursing career. Jen and Kathryn had a special bound – they were mother and daughter.
And the girls just kept coming. Kim felt so blessed to have Melanie in her life. She knew Melanie was a stable force for her husband Jon and their boys. For Melanie, she was the person to go to for advice and she was there – especially the day Mel and Jon lost their son Connor. She would drop everything to be there for you.
Kim/Kathryn is remembered as an adventurer. Whether traveling to foreign countries, working as a scuba diving rescue responder, or finding adventures in reading, she had a thirst for knowledge. As a nurse, she pushed the limits- preferring the more complex challenges of emergency medicine than the mundane. She was a feminist, who had strong opinions and lots of free advice. She didn't even own skirt when she met Roger – she was in jeans and boots – and later in sweatpants and uggs. She owned a bobcat named Grace and a continuous string of German Shepherds. She road a Vestpa. Was a caring sister who provide support and love; especially during trying times. Her family will miss spirited engagement, her ability to stay true to her core, and being there when you needed her the most.
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