Katherine Mallows It is clear that Katherine was well-loved by many – it is a fine and fitting witness that there are so many of you here today; and that so many words (almost 4000 of them) were sent to me to help me collect together some fragments of the story of her life and the way her life touched yours. I‟m grateful to Keith, Cess, Verena, Adrian, Keith, Terry, Suzanne and Steph for the input they have made. It is their words I have collected together. Friendship was clearly an important part of Katherine‟s life – even, and perhaps especially, friendships expressed across many miles (sometimes through Skype), through a thoughtful (and never forgetful) „Happy Birthday‟; friendship brought about through a chance meeting subsequent to staying in a Bed and Breakfast, friendship maintained through going to the cinema, or theatre. As a friend, I know she would stand by you through thick and thin. She was someone with whom one could just „click‟. Katherine was educated at Rustenberg Girls School and the University of Cape Town; after working in Cape Town libraries she decided to make the big move to England. In London Katherine had a wonderful social life and a weekend would not go by without a party wherever she was staying. She looked after a string of houses for people who were on holiday and supplemented her income that way, but nothing stopped her having her soirees and cheese fondues in their houses in Hampstead. Her jobs in England included: Harrow and Barking music library, working for Gramaphone the music trade publication and for a Library software company. She then moved to Germany, firstly to Witten and then to Berlin teaching English and then for the library software company Ex Libris. She moved back to the UK after finding a job at the British Library in Boston Spa working on the technical and systems side. I‟m told that when the British Library started their recycling scheme Katherine thought it was not quite good enough. She added boxes for cardboard, plastic bottle tops and CD‟s. Woe betide you if you didn‟t use them!!!! Katherine was their team “librarian” – the bibliographic data expert and the one who could translate cataloguer-ese into something that made sense to the rest of us. Her expert input & knowledge, and her attention to detail will be well-remembered. A colleague wrote: Katherine would often just come and stand by your desk… “Can I help?” you would say, “no – just standing” Katherine would reply. Katherine was delighted that The British Library had a catalogue record for her published work. She was especially pleased (well proud as punch) that they had an authority record for her. In fact it was a record that Katherine actually loaded herself. Her whole career was based around libraries and books and she was a very keen reader – her house is full of books covering areas of interest such as philosophy, music, south Africa etc. Maybe she was one with whom you swapped books and ideas – one with whom you would chat, explore ideas, and question everything. Katherine also qualified as a teacher as a mature student and taught “English as a foreign language” to UK immigrants in Leeds at evening classes. She loved teaching more generally, and passing on musical knowledge to others – classical, jazz, folk, south African music and rock/pop. Katherine‟s love for children meant that she enjoyed her time working with beavers and cubs and, of course, teaching music to children for many years, and she was held dear particularly by the children for whom she became "Auntie Katherine‟. A member of two local walking groups, Katherine also enjoyed walks in the local area and further afield. Rarely a year went by without another degree, diploma or certificate being added to an impressive list be it studies in Anglo-saxon, teaching qualifications or the German that she so loved after living there. Maybe there are memories of journeys shared, holidays in England, Ireland, Germany, Namibia, Czechoslovakia and Sweden, or holidays at the family‟s holiday home near the Baltic sea. I'm told Katherine loved Berlin – and I know there are memories of when the Wall came down and she called Verena to wish Germany "Happy Birthday‟. For others there will be memories of special times shared together, as school friends – days spent eating lemon curd, avoiding sport at any cost, preferring instead Katherine‟s company and a good book under a shady tree, perhaps memories as a friend (near or far), even your closest friend, colleague, companion along life's way. Perhaps those memories are stirred for you, particularly, today. Katherine showed sensitivity, creativity, and understanding; she was good at raising other people's spirits – she was able to "connect‟ with people. She was a great supporter and encourager, fiercely loyal, with an infectious chuckle. Quote “She was not shy of letting us know her view on things, as everyone knows, even when we disagreed. But she knew it was better said than unsaid, and, let's face it, she was always right.” Katherine was a unique person with such grace. She loved nature and art and simple pleasures and took delight in the countryside and watching soap operas. She would predict exactly, almost word for word sometimes, what would happen and be said in the very next scene in East Enders. Katherine always had a long list of things to do each day – not everything on her life's list has been completed, but she led a very full life, visited many places, experienced many things and made friends in many countries. Perhaps she offered you a shoulder to cry on from time to time too… Katherine was an enthusiastic member of Leeds Anglo-German Club and regularly took part in their summer barbecues and November quiz nights – maybe you have memories of Katherine getting a group of people to try to translate and sing “Ten Green Bottles” in German – almost impossible to get the words to fit the tune! Maybe you'll miss her dry sense of humour, the “visor of wisdom”, the “hat of knowledge” and the “fez of questioning”, the fact that the last custard cream was always hers. Quote “I know my life has been dearly enhanced by knowing and loving her. And no doubt Katherine would not have hesitated in saying she was who she was because of her friends.” In some ways, perhaps, she was like a butterfly – never quite sure where she belonged, but she felt at home in many places, eventually making her home, a welcoming home, in Yorkshire. An anonymous poem puts it this way: A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam. And for a brief moment its glory and beauty belong to our world. But then it flies on again, and though we wish it could have stayed a while longer, we feel lucky to have seen it.