Katherine Lynn Butler

Kate died under hospice care on May 1 at Vierra Falls Church, with her brother Billy Butler and longtime husband Kent Hoover with her as she passed. She also is survived by another brother, Donald Butler.

Kate and her brothers grew up together on Long Island, New York, swimming at Jones Beach, boating on the bay and playing with a neighborhood full of kids in Bellemore. Kate went to college at the University of Dayton, studying art and biology, combining her creative spark with her love of nature.

After college, she moved to Southwest Virginia, where the girl formerly called Kathy decided to become a woman called Kate, because lots of folks down there turned Kathy into a three-syllable word. She worked on the Plow, an alternative newspaper covering Appalachia, and then for a local printing company. She decided to develop her talents as a graphic designer by studying at the Art Institute of Atlanta. She worked at two advertising agencies in Atlanta, and as a freelancer there. After moving to Orlando, she worked as a graphic designer for AAA.

Kate loved the beach, and it was little more than an hour away from Orlando, so she and Kent went there often. Her brothers lived in the Tampa Bay area, just a couple of hours away, so she enjoyed visiting them as well and watching Billy’s kids grow up. Later, after she moved to Arlington, Va., Fenwick Island, Del., was her beach getaway. She would get up at the crack of down to surf fish before the swimmers took over the beach. She almost always caught something, usually releasing the fish but sometimes cooking them up for a delicious meal.

Gardening was another passion of Kate’s, and she turned that into a business in Arlington, called Under the Sun. She and her crew beautified yards all over the Washington, D.C., area, not just with flowers, bushes and trees, but also with ponds and stonework.

Kate also was an avid collector of outsider art, and took road trips to visit artists such as Howard Finster and R.A. Miller when she lived in Georgia. She loved music as well, traveling numerous times to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She was a good dancer too, doing the two-step with older gentlemen in Gruene Hall in Texas and Mulate’s in Breaux Bridge, La.

Kate was a free spirit who brightened the lives of all who got to know her. She will be missed.

A celebration of Kate’s life will be held at 1 p.m. on June 21 at the Barcroft Community House, 800 S. Buchanan St., Arlington, Va.

In lieu of flowers, consider planting a tree in Kate’s name. Check out treesforachange.com or arborday.org for more information.