Katherine Marie Blickhahn

Katherine (Kate) Marie Blickhahn was born in Lead, South Dakota on May 6, 1934 and passed away in Eskaton Village Carmichael, Carmichael, California on Sunday, August 4, 2024 at the age of 90, following a month long illness. Kate was the elder of two daughters of Harry Miller Blickhahn and Barbara Clark Blickhahn.

In 1942 the family moved to Santa Cruz, California, then in April 1944, the family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, and then to Hilo, where her father was the editor of the Hilo Tribune Herald for 20 years and where the family weathered a tidal wave in 1946 and several volcano eruptions. Kate graduated as salutatorian from Hilo High School in Hilo, Hawaii in 1952. She attended Pomona College for two years and transferred to the education program in UCLA for her final two years in college where she graduated in 1956. Kate had a career in secondary and university education, primarily as a teacher of literature and writing and as a high school principal at Redwood High School in Larkspur, California.

In her late 50s, she retired from teaching and co-authored a series of textbooks in composition for secondary students. She worked in professional development, helping to improve the teaching of writing, both as an independent consultant and as one of the original teacher/consultants with the Bay Area Writing Project, a professional development effort that became the California Writing Project and later the National Writing Project. Kate developed an interest in Tibetan Buddhism and, in 2011, she published a collection of fifty original stories of early Buddhist women entitled Buddha’s Daughters: Spiritual Journeys of Early Women of the Dharma.

Kate met her partner of 57 years, Dale Elliott, in 1957. They were married on August 1, 2013. They enjoyed traveling by RV, and over the years often stayed with RV-ing Women in Apache Junction, Arizona. The two were loving pet parents to Myrtle the tortoise and dogs Betsy Ross and Quincy. After 57 years together, Dale preceded Kate in death. Kate was later partnered with Pat Evers. The couple lived in Palm Springs until moving to Rancho Mirage where they lived until Pat’s death.

On May 7, 2023 (the day after her 89th birthday), Kate moved to Eskaton to be near her sister, Gretel, against whom she won daily games of Scrabble. At Eskaton, Kate enjoyed her work with the Library Committee. Kate is survived by her sister, Gretel Blickhahn McLane, and a niece and a nephew and their families. The family held a private memorial service.