
Kate Batey died peacefully with family in Bozeman, Mont., one day before her 90th birthday. Katherine Elizabeth Marshall was born April 24, 1923, in Des Moines, Iowa, and always wanted to move west and be near mountains. She attended Cornell College where she met her sweetheart, Harry Batey.
After marrying in 1945, and finishing further studies at Ohio State University, Harry and Kate moved west to Pullman, where they taught at Washington State University and raised their four children. Harry was a professor of chemistry and Kate was an instructor in the English department.
Kate and Harry led active lives filled with hiking, camping, fishing and getting to know remote corners of the Pacific Northwest and the world. During 1968-69 when Harry took a sabbatical year to work with UNESCO in Iran, Kate taught the history of the English language at a college in Tehran. Kate was a lifelong painter, sometimes poet, avid reader, natural gardener, great cook and dedicated hostess at lively dinner parties. She inspired and welcomed all with her wisdom, warmth, and wit.
In 1985 Kate and Harry retired to their beloved log cabin, "The Lodge," at the far end of Priest Lake in northern Idaho. There they spent summers with their children and extended family since the early 1950s, but now they were able to enjoy all four seasons in the place they so dearly loved. Living there year-round they were surrounded by the wilderness and sometimes not heard from for many days when the conditions were severe in the winter. They reveled in their isolated life and became great stewards of the land, the water and the wildlife. Both Kate and Harry were directors of the Selkirk Priest Basin Association, where they battled threats to the ecological stability and beauty of Priest Lake.
Kate was preceded in death by her husband, Harry in 2001; her brother, Harry Marshall Jr. in 2005; and her daughter, Sheila Katherine Batey in 2013. She is survived by three children and their spouses, Thomas Marshall Batey and Dian Parker, Anne Elizabeth Batey and Bruce Bayley and Mary Barbara Batey and Harry Howard; a grandson, Miles Marshall Tatch; a sister, Barbara Schreiber and her husband Dr. R.R. Schreiber; a sister-in-law, Caroline Marshall; and one nephew, five nieces and their spouses.
A private memorial celebration of Kate's life is planned for this summer at Priest Lake. Remembrances may be made to the Selkirk Priest Basin Association.