By Sharon Abraham

Kathy was born outside of Baltimore, but moved with her family to Levittown, PA when she was five.  Thus, she considers herself a Pennsylvanian. She spent her junior year of college in Switzerland where she studied French and Russian, languages she states she still feels somewhat comfortable in today. She is married to John Hogan.  She has had five careers, ranging from law (State Court Administrator, U.S. Department of Labor), four years teaching International Relations at Furman University in South Carolina, fifteen years in the family printing business, and working at a language translation company. She currently handles finances at a law firm.

The way she became interested in AAUW was because of something her father was responsible for.  In the 1990’s he saw an article in a newspaper advertising a tea that was soliciting new members for AAUW.  (It was at Helen Sudhaus’ house.)  He thought AAUW might be something Kathy would be interested in.  She was, but she could only attend a few meetings as they were held in the evenings when Kathy was attending computer classes.  She went to the tea and as a result has been an active member ever since.

In Kathy’s spare time she enjoys reading mysteries.  She also sews, knits and crochets and just finished making slipcovers.  When asked what her pet peeves were, she took several seconds to think about it and then said she  is bothered by grammar mistakes she sees in print, especially dangling modifiers.   When asked what special talents she has, she replied “a lot about many things.”  (I couldn’t pin her down any more than that.)  She is too modest to admit to them; however, she was very forthcoming in answering what makes her the happiest, which is “doing things with good friends.”  She also added that pets make her happy.  She has no pets presently but in the past has had three dogs and two cats, (not all at the same time.)  When asked what she wished people knew about her, she explained that she is a big believer in adopting rescue animals.  Her previous dogs were all mutts.

I asked what she wished for herself.  Her answer was a healthy retirement for her and her husband so they could travel.  She explained that she and her husband had gone to Dusseldorf, Munich and the Prague on their honeymoon.  Recently they took a Viking river cruise to Paris and then to Germany.  Now Kathy would like to go to England and Ireland and also to take a Mississippi riverboat cruise.

The last question I asked Kathy was what special meal she’d want a chef to make for her and seven other guests.  Her answer was as follows: artichoke dip, followed by lamb korma, with crème brûlée for dessert.  That certainly was different from answers I’ve previously gotten, but it did sound like something fun to try.  It was a pleasure finally meeting Kathy.