Katherine Elliott

ELLIOTT, KATHERINE (KATHIE) - 89, of Gray died peacefully Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough. She was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, NY, the daughter of Walter and Catherine Elliott. She was the only girl among three brothers: John, Walker and Brett.

Kathie attended The King’s College in New Castle, Delaware, 1944-1948. She then attended Biblical Seminary in 1948 and Booth Memorial Hospital’s School for Practical Nurses in New York. She worked as an outreach worker for East End Baptist Church in New York in 1950. The next year she joined the Sudan Interior Mission in Nigeria, West Africa until 1960, when she took a six month furlough at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. She attended Lenox Hill Hospital School of Nursing in New York from 1961-1964. She was with Frontier Nursing Service for one year until she had a Jeep accident in July of 1966. Before the end of the year, until 1974, Kathie worked various nursing jobs in New York, including Children’s Health Services and Visiting Nurse Services.

She attended UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health and received her Masters of Public Health degree in 1976. Kathie moved to Maine, and was Nursing and Branch Supervisor at Community Health Services in Westbrook until she retired in 1986.

Kathie’s friends, family, and colleagues described her as their angel on earth. “Kathie was a role model to all who knew her,” writes one former co-worker. “As our supervisor of Nursing at Community Health Services in Westbrook, she exemplified all the qualities of leadership. The camaraderie of the nursing staff was, and is still, present after 30 years. We get together annually, and Kathie was the driving force throughout all these years. Her deep faith in the Eucharist came through in her persona without uttering a word. Kathie was a mother figure to all of us. We love her dearly.”

Kathie’s strong faith and love of the gospel led her to become part of a weekly Spiritual Journey and Support Group at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland, in 1993. She was the first assigned to share her life’s pilgrimage and to answer the question “how does God speak to you?” In 2010, she published a collection of her faith-based essays called “An Incredible Love Story.”

Kathie was preceded in death by her parents; two of her brothers Walker Elliott and Brett Elliott. Kathie is survived by her friend Betsy Mitchell of Gray; her brother John Elliott of Burditt, New York; many nieces and a nephew in California.

Services will be held at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland, 143 State Street, on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 3 p.m. Visitation with family and friends will follow at the Cathedral.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Amnesty International, or Friends of Feral Felines.