Kathleen A. Klemens

The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Calling hours will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Westminster. In lieu of flowers, Kathy asked that donations be made to the American Association of University Women’s Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 7475, Springfield, IL 62791. Boardman-Smith Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Cremation rites have been accorded.

Kathy is survived by her husband, Michael; two children, Jeffrey (wife, Jessica) of Philadelphia, Pa., and Megan of Portland, Or.; her mother, Mary Gates of Canton, N.Y.; six bothers and sisters, Michael, of Oswego, N.Y., Cynthia of Richmond, Va., Maureen of Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Sheila of Oswego, N.Y., Martin of Las Vegas, Nev., and Timothy of Hedgesville, W. Va.; aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews.

Born January 22, 1950, in Watertown, N.Y., daughter of Francis and Mary Lounsbury Gates, she graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., in 1972. She worked for several years as a social worker at St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg, N.Y. She married Michael Klemens on June 20, 1975, in Ogdensburg

She moved to Springfield in 1985, completed teacher certification requirements at Sangamon State University in 1989, and went to work as first a kindergarten and later a reading teacher in Springfield School District 186. She earned a Master’s Degree in Reading from Western Illinois University in 1995, and was active in numerous professional reading associations, including service as president of the Central Illinois Reading Council.

Kathy was a member and elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church where she chaired the Christian Education and Peacemaking Committees and taught Sunday School. She was active in the American Association of University Women serving as president of the Springfield Chapter and on the AAUW state board, championing education and equity for girls and women. She was also a member of PEO Chapter Fu in Springfield.