Tributes: Remembered for service

“Dedicating a life to service is the key to long life and happiness.”
A friend and co-worker of Katherine Kimball attributed this phrase to her recently, and if anyone would know about dedicating a life to service, it would be she.
Kimball, 92, died Jan. 21 after decades of volunteer work for the Inland Northwest Chapter of the American Red Cross.
She was born in Spokane in 1914, graduated from Lewis and Clark High School and earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho in 1937.
But it was in Riverside, Calif., at March Airfield Hospital in 1945, when she first joined the Red Cross.
She started as an employee and assisted in medical discharges at the hospital. She later moved to San Francisco and volunteered as a “gray lady.”
The gray ladies offered to run errands, tutor, write letters or shop for injured or disabled patients in hospitals. They also would act as hostesses in hospital recreation rooms and as a tour guide for family members of patients.
When she returned to Spokane in 1963, she began serving the public as a teacher and then a librarian for the Deer Park School District. She earned a master’s degree at Whitworth College in 1966.
She retired in 1982 and returned to the Red Cross, where she volunteered on Tuesdays and Thursdays until December of last year.
Friends, family members and co-workers gathered at the Red Cross recently to celebrate her time with them and share memories, food, hugs and tears.
Kimball, who was known as Kay, would have approved.
“She was a party animal,” Pat Moseley, executive director of the chapter, said. “Kay loves a good party.”
Johanna Johnson said that when Kimball turned 90, they threw a surprise party for her. The first thing Kimball did was count the people in attendance so she could tell her friends later.
“She would be so pleased at the turnout today,” Johnson said. Someone in the crowd then quickly counted 51 people at the memorial.
Kimball was a stickler for details. She would review every disaster case and checked to make sure everything was spelled correctly.
She taught training courses throughout the area and updated shelter agreements. She worked night dispatch and often wakened volunteers at odd hours.
“I remember her calling me in the middle of the night,” said Valeta Biggs. “She was really sweet to say, ‘I’m sorry to wake you, but.…’”
Friends remembered that she still drove and recently renewed her driver’s license. She lived in her own apartment at Harvard Park Retirement Residence and took care of her cat, Oliver.
Pam Goforth remembered that she had known Kimball for four or five months before she realized that Oliver was not her husband, since Kimball spoke of him with so much affection.
She traveled to more than 30 countries and would organize slide shows of her trips that she would present at local libraries and senior centers.
Many spoke of her as a brash, alpha female at first, but she had the heart of a kid underneath her tough exterior.
They also remembered that she would make herself a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich every night before she went to bed and loved to watch football and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”
She woke up every day at 6 a.m. and would say her day started when she moved to the side of the bed, put her feet on the floor and stood up.
Over the years, Kimball received many awards for her commitment to volunteerism.
She received the Clara Barton Award, the highest award the American Red Cross gives its volunteers, the John Haugen Flame of Life Award at the Senior Wellness Conference in Spokane, and the Inland Northwest Chapter of the Red Cross has established the Katherine A. Kimball Award for outstanding disaster volunteers.
Several times, the phrase, “She kept us all in line,” could be heard at the memorial.
Kimball, who never married, is survived by her niece, Sally Kimball Shanafelt and her husband Mike of Boise; a nephew, Stuart Craig Kimball and his wife, Connie, of Post Falls, two grandnephews, one grandniece, two great-grandnephews, two great-grandnieces and her family at the Red Cross.
“She was very precious to me all my life,” Sally Shanafelt said.