Katharine M Pool

Katharine (Kay) McAlmon Pool passed away peacefully on May 26, 2026, at the age of 97. Kay was born in El Paso, Texas, September 22, 1928, to Katharine A. and George A. McAlmon. She attended Stanford University, graduating in 1949 in Speech and Drama. She married John T. Pool Jr., whom she met at Stanford, in 1950. Soon after, she attended Mills College in Oakland, CA to obtain certification for teaching. She and John lived in several communities in both Northern and Southern California until the mid 1990s when they moved to Austin, Texas and later to Lynden, Washington. After John passed away in 2000, she moved to Tucson to be with her daughter and closer to her El Paso family.

Kay’s life-long passion was classical music. She played and taught violin, also the cello and viola. She began playing the violin at 8 years old and continued up until the last few months of her life. She began teaching violin in the early 1960s privately and in elementary schools. She played in orchestras everywhere she lived. In Tucson she taught music at Basis Primary School, taught dozens of students privately and played for the Civic Orchestra of Tucson for many years. She also sang in the choir for St. Albans Episcopalian Church, and performed with a quartet of fellow string musicians around town. Kay was a regular volunteer with the Primavera Foundation in Tucson and was a lifelong supporter of the arts. Kay was very active. She loved walking the family dogs, swimming, and took up yoga in her late 70s. Kay is known by all who knew her as a kind and loving person with a wonderful and light-hearted sense of humor.

Kay had three children, Richard, John and Marilen. Kay is preceded in death by her husband John, son John K. and brother George A. McAlmon Jr. She is survived by her son Richard of Landisville, Pennsylvania, her daughter Marilen of Tucson, four grandchildren, four great grandchildren, two nieces and three nephews. No services are planned. In Kay’s memory please donate to the Tucson Music Teachers Association.

https://www.tucsonmusicteachers.org/donate-to-tmta/