POTTER HOLLOW — A well-known and well-loved figure in this hamlet, Kathryne A. Reed, died Saturday, June 18, 2016, leaving behind happy memories for many. She was 88.

“She was a spitfire of a woman,” her family wrote in tribute to her. Her fiercely independent nature, love of fun and of other people, and her many interests animated her life.

She was born on Feb. 14, 1928, in Dow City, Iowa, the daughter of Ernst and Clara Aeberhardt Kummer. She was the youngest of eight children.

The family moved to Athens, New York, sometime during the Great Depression, says her stepdaughter, Linda Mormile, perhaps because of the Depression.

An avid horsewoman all her life, she met the man who would become her  husband, D. Raymond Reed, through their mutual passion for horses. He was a farrier who one day happened to shoe her horse. They married May 20, 1960.

That same horse came to Potter Hollow with the newlyweds and became a favorite among village children who loved to ride it.

Later,  Reeds were active members of the Cloverleaf Corral Horse Club, happy to organize horse shows and delighting in taking people on horse trails they blazed, with the permission of local farmers and landowners. After a ride, both loved the convivial times with fellow-riders in favorite “watering holes.”

Their sociability didn’t stop there. People in Potter Hollow still talk about the Reeds’ hay-field clambakes, to which all were invited. Their annual New Year’s Day oyster stew open house is a prized memory for many. And their homemade hard cider was celebrated, too.

Crafts were another love in Mrs. Reed’s life. “If she saw a tooled leather belt she liked,” Mrs. Mormile recalls, “she would take lessons in how to produce one and make one for herself.” She learned several crafts this way,

“Really there was nothing she couldn’t do,” her family recalls. “People would bring things to her that needed fixing. She’d do for them whatever they needed.”

Many Potter Hollow children came to know her as the lady with lots of books. She would gladly give or loan her books to them. The Western novels of Louis L’Amour were a favorite of hers.

And then there was her cooking. “She was a fantastic cook who created many meals for unexpected guests from whatever she could locate in the house,” says Mrs. Mormile.

“But you could never call her just  a homemaker, “ Mrs Mormile declares. She had too many interests — birdwatching was another — as well as a 37-year career as a bacteriology laboratory technician in the New York State Department of Health. She retired from there in 1983.

After her retirement “Kay,”  as everyone called her, worked part-time as a “tar-bender,” her version of bartender, at many local establishments.

She never tired of good company and good times. Nor of the companionship of her beloved dog, Nifty.

“She was generous beyond her means, filled with memories and knowledge that she was ready and willing to share, and always had a good joke to keep you on your toes,” her family says.

******

Her husband. D. Raymond Reed, died on June 2, 1988. Her stepdaughter’s husband, David Cook, also died before her.

She is survived by a sister, Alice Schubert of Coxsackie; stepdaughters Linda Mormile and her husband, John, of Preston Hollow;  Diane  Sala and her husband, Carlos Sala Jr., of East Durham; and Virginia Cook of Selkirk. seven step-grandchildren, and many step-great-grandchildren.

Calling hours will be on Wednesday, June 22,  at A.J. Cunningham Funeral Home, Greenville., followed by a funeral service there, and internment at Potter Hollow Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Tri-Village Volunteer Fire Company, Post Office Box 575, Preston Hollow 12469-0575, or to Rensselaerville Volunteer Ambulance, Post Office Box 182, Rensselaerville 12147-0182.

— Tim Tulloch