Kathleen Patricia McKenna

[caption id="attachment_4344" align="alignleft" width="300"] Kathleen Patricia McKenna[/caption]

Kathleen Patricia McKenna passed away quietly at her home in El Verano on Oct. 29, 2013, in the company of loving friends.

A native of San Francisco, Kathy was born to Henry and Alice McHugh McKenna on March 7, 1947. She grew up in The City, attending the Convent of the Sacred Heart School on Broadway from kindergarten through high school. She attended Santa Clara University and then the University of San Francisco, where she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree.

Like her mother, she chose a career in education and taught in San Francisco’s inner city elementary schools for 30 years, passing up repeated offers of promotion to remain in a classroom. On retiring, she took up full-time residence in her home here, which she purchased almost 20 years ago. She loved living in the Sonoma Valley and volunteered at service organizations including Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, the Sonoma International Film Festival, and teaching English at La Luz Center. She also contributed to the community by her participation in Impact 100 Sonoma.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Sister Joan McKenna, Society of the Sacred Heart. Kathy is survived by her cousins, Bill Graham, of Prineville, Ore., his wife, Linda, and his daughters, Shayna and Jaime; Tom Bostock, of San Francisco, his, wife Patti, and his daughter, Claire; Ed Bostock, of Sebastopol, his wife, Stephanie, and his sons, Ross and Chris; by her goddaughter, Katie Loughran, of San Francisco; and by a vast family of friends and neighbors who loved her dearly and will feel this loss acutely for years to come.

Kathy brought life and light and love into every room she entered and she lived, as did her sister, by the admonition in Micah 6-8 to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”

A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 16, at St. Stephen Church, 451 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco. Those wishing to honor her memory are encouraged to donate to the Sister Joan McKenna Scholarship Fund, c/o Sacred Heart Schools, 150 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton CA 94027, or to La Luz Center, 17560 Greger St., Sonoma CA 95476.

Duggan’s Mission Chapel

Mission Cremation Services

525 W. Napa St.,

Sonoma, CA.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.