Katherine Settle Simmons loved to travel and was never afraid to “just jump in the car and go,” recalled her daughter, Penny McLaughlin.

Mrs. McLaughlin said that once, when she was 12 or 13 and school was out, her mother announced, “Time for a road trip!” and the two took off for “probably 10 different states,” including a quick and spontaneous detour into Indiana, so that Penny could say she had been to the singer John Mellencamp’s home state.

Known to her friends and family as “Kathy,” Mrs. Simmons was modest and uncomplaining, her daughter said, and didn’t want a lot of people making a fuss over her. Even after she got sick with lung disease, she didn’t want to be a burden or be dependent on anyone, according to Mrs. McLaughlin.

Days before Mrs. Simmons died on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016 — surrounded by family — her daughter told her that her granddaughters would “miss her terribly.” Mrs. Simmons’s response was, “Tell them to look for me in the sunshine and butterflies.”

Within an hour of her mother’s death, Mrs. McLaughlin said, her hospital window was filled with “the most beautiful sunset.” She was 72.

Mrs. Simmons was born in Albany on March 18, 1944 and was raised in Guilderland and attended Guilderland High School. Many years ago she held a number of jobs, the most recent being at Westinghouse Elevator Company. Many friends may remember her from her years as a waitress at Motty’s on Western Avenue.

Her life centered on her children and grandchildren.

“She lived five minutes from us,” said her daughter, who talked with Mrs. Simmons on the phone every day. Mrs. Simmons attended all of her grandchildren’s sporting events. She loved to see family on weekends and go on vacation with them and “share her stories and wisdom.” She would “drop everything for her grandkids,” Mrs. McLaughlin said. She made sure to travel to South Carolina whenever she could to visit her son, William Folderman, and his family, usually with a stop in the Great Smoky Mountains to see her best friend of 50 or so years, Mariellen LeSuer.

Many people knew Mrs. Simmons as “Red” because of her hair color, said her daughter, but within the family, she was sometimes referred to as “the food fairy,” because she “loved to cook for everyone and deliver food packages.”

Her cooking was great, her daughter recalled, and tended toward “comfort food, like casseroles.” She made everything from memory, “or would just wing it.” She was such a good cook that she knew what foods would go well together. She made “the only pea soup I ever liked,” said Mrs. McLaughlin, and cooked from recipes handed down from her own grandmother, “old-style cooking.”

She had an impressive memory, said Mrs. McLaughlin. When looking at the old family photo albums, “She knew who everybody was, why they were in the picture, and what they were doing.” She did not like to use GPS in her travels, preferring maps. She always knew her way back, and when to detour to avoid heavy traffic or construction.

One thing she sometimes could not remember was which books she had read. She would finish a book every couple of days, usually nonfiction about nature or American history. Because she read so many, she would sometimes start in on what she thought was a new one before realizing she had already read it.

She was a big football fan. She liked the local teams, but the Pittsburgh Steelers were her favorite.

“I’m going to miss talking with her about football this season,” said Mrs. McLaughlin.

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Katherine Ann (née Bastiani) Settle Simmons is survived by her two children, William (Will) Folderman and his wife, Lee, of Sumter, South Carolina, and Penny McLaughlin and her husband, Patrick, of Duanesburg.

She is also survived by six siblings: Ted Bastiani, Cindy Weldon, Connie DeBenedetti, Raul Bastiani, Linda Beliveau, and Anne Femia, and their families.

She is also survived by her stepchildren and their families, and by four grandchildren — Cassie Leigh and Frank Folderman, and Emily and Allison McLaughlin, and by her three stepgrandchildren, and her lifelong best friend, Mariellen LeSuer.

Mrs. Simmons’ parents, Raul and Anne Bastiani, died before her, as did her brother, Harold Bastiani; her husband, Auvilla (Bill) Simmons; and her daughter, Robin Bastiani.

The family is choosing to respect Mrs. Simmons’ wish for no services. Mrs. McLaughlin explained, “She did not want people crying over her, and making it harder for her grandchildren.”

The family extends its gratitude to the Altamont Rescue Squad.

Funeral arrangements were by Fredendall Funeral Home of Altamont.

—Elizabeth Floyd Mair