Kathryn Jane Cahoon

Kathryn Jane Cahoon

Kathryn Jane Cahoon of Seattle, Washington passed away peacefully at 1:45 PM on Sunday afternoon the 10th of May at Evergreen Senior Care in Seattle, Washington after suffering a stroke 2 days prior.  Kathryn was 90.

Kathryn was the widow of Robert Randall Cahoon and the second born child of George Elmer Stroud and Flossie Myrtle (Rew) Stroud.

Kathryn was born in Seattle, Washington September 29th, 1929 and lived her entire life in the Emerald City.  She graduated from Lincoln High School and attended the University of Washington earning a bachelor’s degree in general studies.  She desired to earn a degree in forestry, but unfortunately it was not offered to women at the time.

Kathryn married Robert on May 10th, 1953 when she was 23 and dedicated most of her life supporting her husband and raising five children.  She and Robert purchased the family home on top of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle in 1960.  She applied her University degree to all parts of managing a family and home life including overseeing family finances, budgets, investments, nutrition, discipline, and religion.  She was a devout Christian Scientist and member of 7th Church of Christ, Scientist and a member of the Mother Church in Boston.

As a mother, wife, and head of household she was quite organized and financially responsible with great skill at stretching the family budget which she did through smart shopping such as going to the day-old bread store, canning fresh fruits, supplementing with powdered milk, etc.  Though she was smart and frugal she did not skimp on family meals, providing well rounded and structured meals on a daily basis including maintaining a strict rule to provide meat, fruit, vegetable, and milk at every dinner meal.  In addition, she made daily sack lunches for her children while they were attending public school vs paying for school lunches.  She helped supplement the family income by selling Tuperware, Copper Kraft, Amway and working at the church’s reading room

She was also the sole transportation for the family including driving her husband to work each morning at 5:00, her kids to all events as needed, and the whole family to every vacation destination.

Kathryn was a very selfless person donating most all her time to others and was never heard to utter an ill word or thought about anyone.  As her children grew to adulthood and became more self-sufficient, she continued to support her church and donate her time and skills to those in need including helping to close estates for acquaintances who had no family to help.

She enjoyed candies, sweets, and chocolate, especially See’s.  She also enjoyed the outdoors with camping and hiking being a regular family activity.  Later she worked as a volunteer ranger for the state forest service.

For entertainment she enjoyed watching science fiction TV shows including Dr. Who and Stargate SG1 and her evening routine was not complete without watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy..  She also enjoyed playing card games with family such as pinochle, bridge, canasta, and hearts.  Later in life she loved to spend her mornings working the daily crossword puzzle while watching the birds feed at her kitchen window bird feeder

Her age and birthday were kept a secret for years from family members as was her wish.  When asked her age her standard answer, with a smile, was “I’m 22”.

Kathryn was widowed in 1990 living largely on her own the past 30 years.  The last 14 years of her life she was confined to a wheelchair following an auto-accident (no fault of her own).  She remained as independent as possible for as long as possible including living in her own apartment in Kent, WA before eventually moving to assisted living for the last five years of her life.  She died on Mother’s Day and her 67th wedding anniversary.

Kathryn is survived by her children Laurie Cahoon, Geoffrey Cahoon (ex-spouse Jennifer Roach), Deidre Stoddard (ex-spouse Ed Stoddard), Ian Cahoon (spouse Maureen DeBoo-Cahoon), Mary Beth Cahoon, grandchildren Jonathan Cahoon, Ashley Stoddard, Cristin Stoddard, Cameron Cahoon, Mackenzie Cahoon, Nikolas Stoddard, great grandchildren Bianca Valadez, Juan Valadez, nephews Bradley Cahoon, Ross Cahoon, and Roger Cahoon.  She was preceded in death by her sister Dorothy (Stroud) Stewart (spouse William Stewart), brother-in-law Dell Spencer Cahoon (spouse Rhoda Virginia [Chase] Cahoon) nephews Douglas W. Stewart, Peter Stewart and niece Nora (Stewart) Dodd.

A private memorial service for family will be held in the coming weeks.

The family wishes memorial contributions be made to The Nature Conservancy.