Katrina K. Rich

SCARBOROUGH – Katrina K. Rich died peacefully on June 20, 2020, at Gosnell House in Scarborough. Born in Portland on Feb. 2, 1926, she was the daughter of George C. and Katherine (Johnson) Kern. She grew up in Deering Center, attending Roosevelt School, Lincoln Junior High School, and graduated from Deering High School with the class of 1944. She was a proud alumna of Wheaton College where she studied Latin and humanities in preparation for a career in education. It was strenuously recommended (read required) by her parents that she graduate from college before marrying. This she did in 1948 by marrying the love of her life, Alan B. Rich, her high school sweetheart. They were a couple for nearly 80 years.She began her teaching career at Wayneflete School in the late forties, but this was put on a 15-year hiatus with the birth of her first child in 1950. Those were the days when the expectations of the domestic spouse were often prioritized over career. She resumed teaching when all her children were of school age. Thus began a legendary career teaching Latin at Westbrook High School. She was a gifted educator and was for many of her students one of those special teachers one infrequently encounters over the course of an education. She was a life-long student, avid reader, and a formidable conversationalist. In keeping with her Kern forbears, she was short in stature; but this was compensated by an expansive personality that was larger than life, a genuine force of nature. Her children learned early and well that if it may not have been entirely impossible to put something over on her, it was certainly futile. She didn’t suffer fools, but she was always concerned, compassionate and considerate of those she may have met along the way.A child of the depression, her thriftiness was legendary as well. This was combined with a remarkably resourceful skill set: she made clothes for her children, knitted sweaters, hats and mittens. She was a skilled seamstress (couturière really) even making sport jackets for her husband. She really could do it all, from hanging wallpaper to making drapery. She was extremely creative in her self-reliance. In addition, she was an excellent cook. Her culinary delights were many and varied but they were often underscored by Yankee frugality. She was he undisputed queen of the casserole when it came to leftovers. She would buy scallops by count rather than weight so as to have just the right number for appropriate portions. If you thought she would spring for a $12 pair of Chuck Taylors when the $2.99 green-soled black tops from Zayres were clearly just as good, you were very much mistaken. He was enormously creative and talented over a broad spectrum of artistic pursuits. Martha Stewart had nothing on Katrina. She was an exemplary home economist as well: she kept the house, its occupants well fed, clothed, and comforted in addition to working full time as a teacher. She even found the time to be a Cub Scout den mother and to assist with the Brownies and Girl Scouts. It doesn’t seem possible that there could have been enough hours in the day.In the late 1970s she and Alan moved to an antique mill in Cumberland where they lived for the next 40 years. This was a memorable venue for countless birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings (she made and decorated wedding cakes as well). She was always a welcoming and gracious hostess. The mill was a much-anticipated family gathering place for Christmas Eves past.With the birth of her youngest son, Jim, she and Alan embarked on an advocacy for the developmentally disabled which culminated in the founding of the Woodfords School. Her commitment to this cause was tireless and enduring. The hundreds of students helped to fully realize their potential are a remarkable testament to the boundless compassion of them both.Katrina’s was a wonderful life well-lived. It was not, however, without its share of trials and tribulations. These she bore with steadfast resolve and grace. Thoreau observed that most people lead lives of quiet desperation never having sung the song. In her own quiet way, she sang to the rafters.She is survived by her son Alan and wife Mary, daughters Meredith and husband Donald Barton, Julie, Cynthia and husband Stephen Johnson, and son James; along with 10 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.Non omnis moriar.The persistence of her memory will be nurtured by those many whose lives were made the better for having known her. A matriarch in the noblest sense, she was the foundational rock of the family. A piece of the continent, a part of the main, humanity is diminished by her departure.Sic transit gloria mundi.


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