A very Dear Friend and dear, dear friend, Katherine Brown, has left this worldly plane.
A memorial Service in the manner of Friends will take place at Barnstable Firends Meeting, Sunday July 14th at 2pm. For more information contact Rachel at BarnstableFriends@aol.com
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Katherine Williams Brown, b. January 30 1930, d. March 7 2024, Born in 1930 in Pelham Massachusetts to Addie Louise Ringer Williams and Reverend Dr. John Paul Williams. Katherine, known to all as ‘Kay,’ spent her teenage years in Western Massachusetts in the towns of North Amherst, Pelham and then South Hadley where her father, John Paul, was a Professor of Religion and later the Chair of the Religion Department at Mount Holyoke College from 1940 to 1967.
After attending elementary through her sophomore year in high school in the South Hadley, MA school district, Kay transferred to the Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie NY which she attended during her junior and senior years of high school. As a young child, when Kay attended Friends Meetings with family friends, she loved the practice of ‘sitting in the silence’ but it was at Oakwood Friends School that Kay’s Quaker values and belief systems were codified as guiding principles and which she practiced during her life through her ongoing involvement with local Quaker Meetings in the communities in which she lived. It was during her time at Oakwood Friends School that Kay met famed civil rights leader and activist Bayard Rustin. That meeting helped broaden her view of the social and civil rights inequities that were inherent parts of American society in the mid-1940s and became a catalyst for her future social activism. After graduating from Oakwood in 1947, Kay returned home to South Hadley, attended Mount Holyoke College and, in 1951, earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.
Despite being the descendant of long line of ordained Christian ministers, Kay decided as a young adult to follow her own unique spiritual pathway. In addition to her love of Quaker beliefs and values, she also began to explore spiritual pursuits that, today, are considered esoteric but, at the time, had no classification. Specifically, she became involved in astrology, meditation, and positive visualization. She was especially drawn to and exceled at astrology and, before the advent of computer programs that could generate astrological charts in seconds, she would—using her vast library of Ephemerides books—painstakingly hand draw and then provide interpretation of the astrological charts for those individuals who had requested a ‘reading.’ Never charging for this service, she saw the ability to read astrological charts as an innate gift and found much satisfaction in providing friends, family and even acquaintances with tools for self-reflection and direction using this unique medium. Kay fed her Universalist Quaker soul by exploring many faith traditions from Buddhism to Wicca. This provided a unique mixture of spiritual grounding that fed her soul and, perhaps, her need to divert herself away from the traditional religious beliefs of her forebears that she viewed as too paternalistic and rigid. It was this unique blend of spirituality that guided her values throughout her life, not only in her desire to be a good citizen and community member wherever she lived—getting to know her neighbors or checking in on elders—but also in her fervent desire to be a social and community activist through her actions and deeds.
As a member of Sandwich Monthly Meeting Kay clerked every committee and did every job from clerk to treasurer at some point. Witnessing how the inequity and bias in the world directly impacted her life and, especially, that of her multi-racial children and grandchildren, Kay was led to work for change in her Quaker community as well as the community at large. When Friends on Cape Cod (Sandwich Monthly Meeting) did not support her anti-racism ministry she began to work at the regional New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) level. Her two primary committees were the Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Committee as well as the Working Party on Racism, which she co-founded and clerked. It was the Working Party on Racism that drafted the New England Yearly Meeting ‘Minute on Racism’ (approved by NEYM in 2003), a public document in which NEYM asserted their commitment to becoming “open, affirming and anti-racist…and to recognizing that racism is inconsistent with the divine guidance that leads them to equality, peace, and community.” When primarily because of this work she was expelled from Sandwich Monthly Meeting, she and a group of other like-minded Friends started Barnstable Friends Meeting under the care of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting. In addition to this important work, Kay’s other community activism included participation in Cape Codders Against Racism and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Soon after graduating from college, Kay moved to New York City and met and married her first husband and had two children, her daughter Sharon, and her son Bill. She and her first husband divorced in 1959. Soon after, she met and married her second husband, and moved with him to his homeland of Jamaica, West Indies where her third child, Judi, was born. This marriage, too, ended in divorce, and she returned back to the United States from Jamaica in 1964. Always a career woman, Kay taught math in both NYC and in Jamaica and, after returning to NY from Jamaica, spent nearly 20 years working as a social worker in the NY Department of Social Services where she helped families in need obtain assistance in the form of housing, food, and support services. Soon after starting her position there in 1965, sitting at the desk adjacent to hers was William (Bill) Brown, a fellow social worker at the time. There was an immediate attraction and, as the saying goes, the third time was a charm. Kay married Bill, the absolute love of her life, their son Justin was born in 1967. Kay and Bill remained married for over forty years until his death in 2007.
After nearly twenty years of living and working in New York, in 1986, Kay returned to her beloved Massachusetts and relocated to Cape Cod where was finally able to live a more bucolic lifestyle compared to the stress of New York City. While on the Cape, she worked as an editor at the New Alchemy Institute (a research center and early pioneer in sustainable agricultural and aquacultural techniques, and renewable energy systems) and then as a grant and scientific editor at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) before she retired in the early 1990s. Soon after her retirement, Kay was delighted to have a charming brand-new Cape-style house built in Mashpee and it was there, on her ‘tabula rasa’ plot of land, that she spent countless hours planting her lawn and tending to her flower garden as she created a personal sanctuary for her friends and her family to enjoy. It was either in the garden, or in her cozy living room, that one could always find Kay, surrounded by a pile of books in progress, magazines, or catalogs.
In the summer of 2021, Kay relocated to a senior retirement community in Maine, and it was late in 2023 that her health began to deteriorate. She passed away on the morning of March 7, 2024 at the age of 94.
Kay is survived by her sister, Sarah (Sally) Williams, her four children: Sharon Smith, Bill Smith (Mary Gazda), Judi Urquhart (Gordon Harris), and Justin Brown (Julie Fineman); six grandchildren: Maya Smith, Matthew Smith, Jeremy Smith, Zoë Harris, Alyssa Harris, and Noah Brown; and one great grandson, David Orozco. A celebration of Katherine Brown’s life will take place in the manner of Friends (Quaker), at Barnstable Friends Meeting at 2 Doctor Lords Road - located at the corner of Doctor Lords Road, Route 6A and Sesuit Neck Road in Dennis MA - on Sunday July 14th at 2pm. For more information contact Rachel at BarnstableFriends@aol.com or go to http://quakersofthelight.blog…
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (New England Quakers (neym.org) or the American Cancer Society.
Katherine Williams Brown, b. January 30 1930, d. March 7 2024,
Born in 1930 in Pelham Massachusetts to Addie Louise Ringer Williams and Reverend Dr. John Paul Williams. Katherine, known to all as ‘Kay,’ spent her teenage years in Western Massachusetts in the towns of North Amherst, Pelham and then South Hadley where her father, John Paul, was a Professor of Religion and later the Chair of the Religion Department at Mount Holyoke College from 1940 to 1967.
After attending elementary through her sophomore year in high school in the South Hadley, MA school district, Kay transferred to the Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie NY which she attended during her junior and senior years of high school. As a young child, when Kay attended Friends Meetings with family friends, she loved the practice of ‘sitting in the silence’ but it was at Oakwood Friends School that Kay’s Quaker values and belief systems were codified as guiding principles and which she practiced during her life through her ongoing involvement with local Quaker Meetings in the communities in which she lived. It was during her time at Oakwood Friends School that Kay met famed civil rights leader and activist Bayard Rustin. That meeting helped broaden her view of the social and civil rights inequities that were inherent parts of American society in the mid-1940s and became a catalyst for her future social activism. After graduating from Oakwood in 1947, Kay returned home to South Hadley, attended Mount Holyoke College and, in 1951, earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.
Despite being the descendant of long line of ordained Christian ministers, Kay decided as a young adult to follow her own unique spiritual pathway. In addition to her love of Quaker beliefs and values, she also began to explore spiritual pursuits that, today, are considered esoteric but, at the time, had no classification. Specifically, she became involved in astrology, meditation, and positive visualization. She was especially drawn to and exceled at astrology and, before the advent of computer programs that could generate astrological charts in seconds, she would—using her vast library of Ephemerides books—painstakingly hand draw and then provide interpretation of the astrological charts for those individuals who had requested a ‘reading.’ Never charging for this service, she saw the ability to read astrological charts as an innate gift and found much satisfaction in providing friends, family and even acquaintances with tools for self-reflection and direction using this unique medium. Kay fed her Universalist Quaker soul by exploring many faith traditions from Buddhism to Wicca. This provided a unique mixture of spiritual grounding that fed her soul and, perhaps, her need to divert herself away from the traditional religious beliefs of her forebears that she viewed as too paternalistic and rigid. It was this unique blend of spirituality that guided her values throughout her life, not only in her desire to be a good citizen and community member wherever she lived—getting to know her neighbors or checking in on elders—but also in her fervent desire to be a social and community activist through her actions and deeds.
As a member of Sandwich Monthly Meeting Kay clerked every committee and did every job from clerk to treasurer at some point. Witnessing how the inequity and bias in the world directly impacted her life and, especially, that of her multi-racial children and grandchildren, Kay was led to work for change in her Quaker community as well as the community at large. When Friends on Cape Cod (Sandwich Monthly Meeting) did not support her anti-racism ministry she began to work at the regional New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) level. Her two primary committees were the Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Committee as well as the Working Party on Racism, which she co-founded and clerked. It was the Working Party on Racism that drafted the New England Yearly Meeting ‘Minute on Racism’ (approved by NEYM in 2003), a public document in which NEYM asserted their commitment to becoming “open, affirming and anti-racist…and to recognizing that racism is inconsistent with the divine guidance that leads them to equality, peace, and community.” When primarily because of this work she was expelled from Sandwich Monthly Meeting, she and a group of other like-minded Friends started Barnstable Friends Meeting under the care of Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting. In addition to this important work, Kay’s other community activism included participation in Cape Codders Against Racism and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Soon after graduating from college, Kay moved to New York City and met and married her first husband and had two children, her daughter Sharon, and her son Bill. She and her first husband divorced in 1959. Soon after, she met and married her second husband, and moved with him to his homeland of Jamaica, West Indies where her third child, Judi, was born. This marriage, too, ended in divorce, and she returned back to the United States from Jamaica in 1964. Always a career woman, Kay taught math in both NYC and in Jamaica and, after returning to NY from Jamaica, spent nearly 20 years working as a social worker in the NY Department of Social Services where she helped families in need obtain assistance in the form of housing, food, and support services. Soon after starting her position there in 1965, sitting at the desk adjacent to hers was William (Bill) Brown, a fellow social worker at the time. There was an immediate attraction and, as the saying goes, the third time was a charm. Kay married Bill, the absolute love of her life, their son Justin was born in 1967. Kay and Bill remained married for over forty years until his death in 2007.
After nearly twenty years of living and working in New York, in 1986, Kay returned to her beloved Massachusetts and relocated to Cape Cod where was finally able to live a more bucolic lifestyle compared to the stress of New York City. While on the Cape, she worked as an editor at the New Alchemy Institute (a research center and early pioneer in sustainable agricultural and aquacultural techniques, and renewable energy systems) and then as a grant and scientific editor at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) before she retired in the early 1990s. Soon after her retirement, Kay was delighted to have a charming brand-new Cape-style house built in Mashpee and it was there, on her ‘tabula rasa’ plot of land, that she spent countless hours planting her lawn and tending to her flower garden as she created a personal sanctuary for her friends and her family to enjoy. It was either in the garden, or in her cozy living room, that one could always find Kay, surrounded by a pile of books in progress, magazines, or catalogs.
In the summer of 2021, Kay relocated to a senior retirement community in Maine, and it was late in 2023 that her health began to deteriorate. She passed away on the morning of March 7, 2024 at the age of 94.
Kay is survived by her sister, Sarah (Sally) Williams, her four children: Sharon Smith, Bill Smith (Mary Gazda), Judi Urquhart (Gordon Harris), and Justin Brown (Julie Fineman); six grandchildren: Maya Smith, Matthew Smith, Jeremy Smith, Zoë Harris, Alyssa Harris, and Noah Brown; and one great grandson, David Orozco. A celebration of Katherine Brown’s life will take place in the manner of Friends (Quaker), at Barnstable Friends Meeting at 2 Doctor Lords Road - located at the corner of Doctor Lords Road, Route 6A and Sesuit Neck Road in Dennis MA - on Sunday July 14th at 2pm. For more information contact Rachel at BarnstableFriends@aol.com or go to http://quakersofthelight.blog…
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (New England Quakers (neym.org) or the American Cancer Society.
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