Kathleen Smith Locke, 94, passed away peacefully on December 2, 2023,
in Boston.
Kathleen was born on October 25, 1929, in
Burlington, Vt., to Stephen and Gladys (Pariseau Denton) Smith.
Always a woman ahead of her time, Kathleen graduated from Burlington
High School at age 16. She went on to earn her BA in zoology from the
University of Vermont. After graduation, she taught in the Chemistry
Department at UVM and took graduate courses. For several years she
taught high school sciences and math. She became technical librarian
for Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., where she found her lifelong
friends, the late Dr. Jay Moses and Irma Smith Moses, and married her
husband, the late Joseph K. Locke. They had two daughters and, after
a pause, a son.
At the time of her son’s birth in 1972,
amniocentesis was still experimental. Kathleen, always fascinated by
advances in science, volunteered to be in a group of 14 pioneers
chosen to participate. Her friends were unconvinced that a medical
process could predict her child’s sex, but Kathleen proved them
wrong.
Kathleen went on to earn her MS in biochemistry at
UMass Boston. After her divorce, she moved to Chicago and spent 14
years as a contract research manager in environmental air quality for
the Gas Research Institute.
Kathleen’s greatest love was
classical music, and she played her piano to the end. Her retirement
years were filled with visits to the symphony, the opera and the
Museum of Fine Arts. A voracious and eclectic reader, she maintained
a keen interest in current events. Kathleen loved sewing, knitting
and baking, traits shared with her daughter Alicia. She adored
traveling, especially with her daughter Amy, who will fondly remember
their jaunts. Her son, Stephen, will miss the simple pleasures of
binge-watching “Breaking Bad” with her.
Kathleen wrote
to her BHS classmates upon their 50th reunion:
“My life,
like yours, has had its challenges and its rewards. I feel as young
as ever until that moment when I look at a reflection in the store
window and with sudden startling revelation realize that the
familiar-looking old lady staring back is me! Then I am aware of the
passing years.”
Kathleen is survived by her children,
Alicia L. Lorenzo of Duxbury, Vt., Amy S. Locke and Stephen Locke,
both of Boston. The family deeply thanks John Nehme for being a
caring second son. Kathleen will be interred at Lakeview Cemetery in
Burlington in a private ceremony.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2023.