Katharine Mary Havnaer

Born in Yakima on June 13, 1918, to George and Sue Beck, Katharine spent her earliest years in Yakima. In 1925 the family moved to Ellensburg, where her father taught music and geology at Washington State Normal School, which later became Central.

From a very young age Katharine knew that she, like so many in her family, wanted to become a teacher. She practiced on her younger sister Virginia, who said that she learned more ancient history from her older sister than she did in her actual classes. After graduating from Ellensburg High School in 1935, she went on to Central, and once armed with her teaching certificate, taught in Sunnyside and Buckley.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Katharine knew she wanted to serve. She enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps, serving mostly at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where her work consisted of training new recruits. It was a lot like teaching school, she said. She was always very proud of her military service.

With the end of the war, Katharine returned to civilian life, moving to Yakima to take a job teaching fifth grade at Garfield school. In the fall of 1947, her love of music led her to join the Yakima Philharmonic Chorus as they prepared for a Christmas performance of Handel’s Messiah. During rehearsals, she became acquainted with three sisters from Tieton. They thought she should meet their single brother, who was also singing in the chorus. The two were introduced, and in June of 1948, Katharine married Bob Havnaer. She had always said she would marry before she was thirty, and their wedding took place on June 12, the day before her thirtieth birthday.

It may have been difficult at first for a young woman who had never lived in the country to move to an orchard in Tieton, but Katharine soon became an active member of the community. She was very involved in church, directing the choir at the Highland United Methodist Church for many years. As soon as their daughter Lorrie was in kindergarten, Katharine went back to teaching full time, spending seventeen years at Marcus Whitman-Cowiche Elementary teaching fourth and fifth grades. She retired in 1974, telling Lorrie that it was “better to leave when they’re still sorry to see you go!”

After Bob’s death in 1978, Katharine maintained her church activities, adding new ones as she took on leadership roles for many years in United Methodist Women. She also traveled extensively, and enjoyed photographing all the many places, both in the US and abroad, that she visited. She was able to travel well into her nineties, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Katharine always said that the women in her family “got along just fine until they didn’t.” It was true for her, as well. She was independent and feisty until the end. Lorrie wants to thank the staff at Hillcrest Assisted Living and Chandler House for understanding that and loving her for it.

Katharine is survived by her daughter Lorrie Harris of Moxee, sister Shirley Pogue of Vancouver, WA, and numerous nieces and nephews. Services will be held at a later date.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.keithandkeith.com.