Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Katherine “Kathy” H. Troutner-Johnson


Katherine "Kathy" H. Troutner-Johnson passed away in her home, in Boise, in the loving comfort of her family, Monday evening Aug. 10, 2009, of cancer. She was born on Dec. 8, 1919, in Baltimore, Md. She was 89 years old.

Life was good to her. Even during the Great Depression, her early years in Baltimore were easy, living on a farm with grandparents and summering in Maine with family, horses, canoes and mountains. Her post-teen years in New York City were devoted to food, drink and sleep as well as dance, theater and music while studying and working with such artists as Hanya Holm, John Housman and Orson Welles. World War II found her in Baltimore, Md., married to Charles Cockey Jr., where they begat two wonderful sons, Charles III and Jim II. The demise of that marriage took her to Sun Valley, Idaho, where she found a home that suited her love of nature, skiing, hiking and horses. While in Sun Valley she married Arthur Troutner; they produced two more wonderful children: a son, Art Jr., and a daughter, Tara Katherine, eventually moving to and settling in Boise.

Her love for horses, dogs, cats—in fact for all animals—never waned. Nor did she ever abandon her passion for dance, teaching it wherever she happened to be living. A favorite activity during the 1960s was directing young people at Boise High School in plays.

In Boise and McCall she was involved in civic work to enhance both the beauty of Boise, serving six years on the Boise Design Review Committee, and Idaho as a whole, chairing the Idaho chapter of The Nature Conservancy for a number of years. During this time she also served on both the Ada County and the state of Idaho Fish and Game leagues, and chaired the League of Women Voters' Environmental Quality Board.

While continuing her activities in all these areas she married a third time, to Earnest Johnson. All through the Idaho years, nature, dance, theater and the arts in general occupied her time, for which she was recognized by the Fund for Idaho, receiving the 2008 Nell Tobias Award for Philanthropy.

She remained active, hiking Idaho's wilderness, participating in competitive cross-country races (At age 70, she said, she "jogged but not ran" Robie Creek and "did it nicely," and won her age class in the Boulder Mountain Tour ski marathon at age 78) and traveling the world with Earnie until poor health slowed her down. Her jewels were her Earnie, her family of children—all four of them—and her wonderful grandchildren, plus the newest family member, her great-grandchild Piper Katherine Young.

Kathy is survived by her husband of 27 years, Earnest Johnson; her sons, Charles (Helena and her children Ondrej and Frantisek) Cockey in Brno, Czech Republic; Jim (Berni) Cockey, Boise; and Arthur (Carol) Troutner, McCall, Idaho; her daughter, Tara Trails, Ashland, Ore.; and her grandchildren, Israel Cockey, Kelsey (Dayton, and great-grandchild Piper) Young, Tom and Tegan Troutner and Arianna, Ericka and James Jarvis.

A memorial service was held at Saint Michael's Episcopal Church (Eighth and State streets) on Friday, Aug. 14.




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