Memorials › Kathryn Anna Maughan Pyrah

Kathryn Anna Maughan Pyrah

14 May 1937 – 26 Oct 2010

Birth14 May 1937
Death26 Oct 2010
CemeteryValley Memorial Park
Palmer , Matanuska-Susitna Borough , Alaska , USA
Added byGraving With Jenn on 04 Jul 2012
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64538314

Bio

Anchorage Daily News November 5, 2010 Kathryn Anna Maughan Pyrah once turned down a job in Paris, France, because the location wasn't interesting enough. Instead, she chose a U.S. State Department post in Cambodia. After 73 years of finding the interesting things of life, Katie died peacefully in her sleep Oct. 26, 2010, while on vacation with her sister at Disneyland in California. A service with a viewing was held at the LDS Church chapel in Palmer, 560 W. Arctic Ave. She was born May 14, 1937, in Colon, Panama, while her dad was stationed there with the U.S. Air Force. As an Air Force brat, Katie got her first taste of Alaska while spending several years at Elmendorf AFB. She graduated from Utah State University with a degree in liberal studies and political science. She joined the Foreign Service in 1961 and worked in embassies in Cambodia and Egypt. After five years, she returned stateside and felt the pull of Alaska. She moved to Anchorage with no clear goal or even a job and met Ted Pyrah while they were both working in youth programs for the LDS Church. They were married in the St. George, Utah, LDS temple in 1970 and lived in Anchorage for several years before the church asked them to run its welfare farm in Palmer. They moved there with their five children in 1977 and two short years later moved to a much larger farm in the Butte area where the family still lives today. Besides her own kids, Katie helped mold hundreds of children, young women, and others through her faith -- whether teaching church classes, planning service projects or roughing it on camp-outs. In her later years, she served a church mission in Kirtland, Ohio, with Ted. Her farm life included planting flowers, gardening and running the popular U-pick business. She is survived by her husband, Ted Pyrah; five children, Preston Pyrah, Suzanne Larsen, Joe Pyrah, Janet Dinwiddie and Lucas Pyrah; three siblings, Peter Maughan, Mary Maughan and Janet Coleman; and 20 grandchildren. Visit the online memorial at legacy.com

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