Passing…

Kate Brooks

My friend Kay Kohler sent me this little writeup about Kate Brooks, who owned Kensington Kennels & helped get the Animal Shelter going…Kate passed away last week in New Jersey. Her tireless work for women, especially, will be missed.

Here’s more:

Kate Johnson Brooks died on Thursday, October 1, due to complications from ovarian cancer at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. She was 66.

Born “Mary Catherine Johnson” on Christmas Day 1942, in Bellingham, Washington, She was the daughter of Joe and Betty Johnson. Betty was born in Friday Harbor. Joe was the prosecuting attorney of Pacific County. Both are remembered as exceptional bridge players at the senior center.

Kate was a graduate of Annie Wright School in Tacoma and followed her parents to Alexandria, Virginia when Joe took the job with the IMF legal department. She ran a preschool center is Virginia until her parents retired and returned to Friday Harbor in retirement.

She became a tireless activist in Democratic politics as well as the Women’s’ Liberation Movement, volunteering with many political campaigns over the years and working with her mother-in-law, Kathryn Brooks, for the ratification of an equal rights amendment.

In 1988, she moved to the San Juan Islands in the state of Washington, where she owned and operated Kensington Kennels, and helped to establish the San Juan County Animal Rescue Shelter. She was active in the Saint David’s Episcopal parish. While on island, she helped many single women start businesses and find accommodations.

She returned to the East Coast in 2001 to be closer to her children and grandchildren.
Kate is survived by two children, Jay Brooks and Betsy Brooks Craig, four grand children, a brother in Front Royal, Virginia, and another brother in San Juan, Costa Rica.

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