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Family & friends, join us on on Friday, Sept 13th to celebrate Katherine turning the big 5-0! The event will be held in Kamloops (specific location tbd). We are expecting a mixture of friends, family and work colleagues. Katherine’s sister will be coming up from Reno to help celebrate. In lieu of gifts we have created this donation page so that Katherine can take her dream trip in the near future.
About Katherine
Kathy was born Katherine Valerie Ray on Saturday September 13th 1969 in the little northern BC town of Vanderhoof. This little town of 1,500 people at that time, and BC in general, where not prepared for her arrival. ?
Kathy and her family (father Art, mother Valerie and her younger sister Shirley) lived in a small trailer in the bush, in Fort Fraser. She and Shirley remember their mother washing their clothes by hand on a washboard, keeping up the trailer, keeping the bears out while Art worked in the bush as a logger. They moved around during their younger years, starting in Fort Fraser, then Uplands, off to Granaisle and finally Houston where they lived out their youth.
Like many youth in Houston, Kathy enjoyed all outdoor activities such as 4-wheeling, dirt bike riding, camping swimming, boating, and of course her favorite activity…..fishing. So the next time she tells you she does not like fishing, reminder her of this. Not only does swimming in glacial fed lakes sound like fun (she doesn’t have to worry about the shrinkage factor like us guys do), but we’ll have to ask her at her party about the time that ‘farmer John’ ran her and Shirley off his property on 4-wheelers.
Kathy and her kid sister sure did spend a lot of time with their mother Valarie. She would take them grocery shopping where they though it would be a good idea to sing loudly in public in an attempt to embarrass poor Valerie. They would sing “Stop!! In the Name of Love” and although she would tell them to stop, deep down she loved it. Also, since child labor wasn’t an issue back in those days, they would also have to plant the annual garden, pick all of the fruits and veggies from said garden, shovel the driveway and who knows what else. They still managed to find time for snow ball fights, camping and yep…..more fishing.
Kathy did her fair share of babysitting back in Houston and would also take care of her lil sis whenever she would get into trouble. She was able to stay out later if she took Shirley along when she went out with her friends. Shirley always knew she “loved” having her hanging around…..i mean who wouldn’t want their kid sister hanging around you cramping your style??
As with many, I mean every, other sibling relationships there was tension at times. Some involved punching, some involved scratching. Last year Kathy travelled to Iceland with a friend, Linda, who also has a younger sister and can relate. One year Linda’s sister threw the family cat at her face a couple of days before the Christmas concert….scratches and all…….wow….but I digress. So Kathy and Shirley were typical squabbling siblings. In fact at some point, they were no longer allowed to do dishes together as it would inevitably end up in a fight and the wooden spoon would come out to ‘correct the behaviour’.
Although her youth in a small town was enjoyable, Kathy knew that she wanted to be in a larger center. She was quite the scholar and used this to her advantage by attending Caribou Collage in Kamloops and eventually U Vic and leaving Houston before she was 18 years old. Between her scholastic acumen and larger than life personality, Kathy had a successful career in the medical sales profession and now mining……and the rest as they say……is history.
I hope you can make her 50 year celebration. If you can’t, we totally understand. As you probably know, Katherine has caught the travel bug these days. All gift proceeds go directly to her travel agent via this web site and will be used for her next adventure……..and we can’t wait to see the pics.
