Margaret Katherine Ogino

She was the first child of Ida and Lester Stainbrook and had a younger brother, Les.

After graduating from Beech Grove High School, she attended nursing school and later moved to Southern California with a friend. There, she joined the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic, where she worked as a surgery scheduler for Dr. Frank Jobe, the renowned surgeon who first performed Tommy John surgery on Dodgers pitcher Tommy John.

She later became a secretary at Aerospace Corporation. While working there full time, she attended evening classes at Pepperdine University and, through great perseverance, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. She then transferred to the company’s Security and Safety Department.

She was a member of Aerospace Corporation’s ski club and attended a trip to Bear Valley Ski Resort with several other clubs. At an après-ski gathering there, she met Yoshifumi (Yoshi) Ogino, and the two eventually married. For at least one of them, it was love at first sight.

In addition to skiing, she loved jogging and ran several miles after work almost every day, wearing out many pairs of shoes. In the summer, we often traveled to Mammoth Lakes, where she enjoyed jogging and fishing. Yoshi, however, had to bait the hook and remove the fish.

In 2008, Kathy moved to Westminster, Colorado, to help care for Yoshi’s aging mother. Although leaving lifelong friends was painful and lonely, she made the move graciously and without complaint. Yoshi’s mother lived to be 100 years old.

At first, she had no friends in her new community, but our next-door neighbor, Faye Gillis, introduced her to the Women’s Par 3 Golf Club and to classes at the Westminster Recreation Center. There, she built many new friendships. She also joined a neighborhood Bunco club and became much happier. She later served as editor of the golf club’s handbook, which was published each year at the start of the season.

She had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to laugh. She was loving, caring, and generous, with deep affection for both people and animals—even coyotes. She especially loved flowers, particularly sunflowers, and found great joy in seeing a field of them in bloom.

She loved to travel, especially to the ocean and on ocean cruises. We had planned a cruise from Lisbon to the Canary Islands, Morocco, and Spain, but had to cancel it. Her passing was so sudden and unexpected that we are still at a loss for words.

She meant so much to her family and friends, and we all miss her deeply. Our cats miss her too. Someday, we will all be reunited in heaven.