Kate Fish

Kate Fish lived in 15 different cities and towns on two different continents. In the end she found her way into St. Johnsbury where she revelled in the community of like-hearted souls she met. Of all the places she lived she found a home in St. J., and was really actually pretty mad she had to leave. Mad at her heart, which worked overtime on the love side but quit early on its mechanical functions.

Kate was born in Princeton, New Jersey to a man who apparently could not wait to get married, so did while he was a junior in college. He must have passed on his ‘can’t wait’ genes because Kate was pretty consistent in not waiting. For example: Moving to St J.

Saw. Loved. Found House. Moved.

There are plenty of other case studies, but space forbids. Also discretion.

Kate’s impulse to not dally when adventure was possible was likely encouraged by the peripatetic nature of her upbringing. Her dad, Mac Fish, was deeply into education, for himself, and then as a teacher. He went to schools and then taught at them. Kate even got a now vanished Scottish accent as a side effect, acquired from the years she toddled around Edinburgh where her father was studying.

There’s a long list of other places the family lived, but Kate was spun out of the familial orbit into her own when she headed off to California for college. In San Francisco, circa the fun years, she got fairly good at looking at the world and pondering alternative directions.

It wasn’t all bliss. There were valleys, but that’s what you get between the mountains. All part of the dance, which now that we mention it, she could. Not just because she was a Dance (and Philosophy) major, but, well, she could. Right up until the Dog Mountain dance-on-the-grass-with-an-oxygen-tank end.

Kate, for those who do not know, because she didn’t spend a lot of time chatting about it, was a bit of a big shot careerwise. She started a not-for-profit to address climate change embarrassingly long ago, considering where we are now, got noticed and hired away by a huge multinational. She sat next to the president to tell him when he was heading in the wrong direction, (full time job) got hired away from those folks to run a big operation helping companies around the world not make horrid decisions regarding the natural world we are still part of, etc. Kate had no MBA. She had that degree in Philosophy and Dance from the place in Cali, oh, there was also a Masters in Religion and Education from a school in St Louis. But, still no MBA. Regardless, the combination of four degrees seemed to work as she rose to become one of the most senior women in a variety of organizations. Private jets, meetings in Stockholm, conferences in London, speeding tickets in Switzerland

But.

Kate did not live for work. Sorry for the cliche, but she did work to live. A single mom, college bills, two amazing and beloved kids? She rolled up her often elegant sleeves and elbowed her way into what remains, a fraction less now than when Kate was involved, a man’s world.

But, now? At the end? Yes, the working life was fun and Kate saw the world and met great people and fought good fights, but in the end?

We asked her. In the end? 

It’s love

So let’s, if you don’t mind, let’s all take a moment to remember and to tell the people we love that we do.

What was that love for Kate? She knew it was the end. Her heart let her know, again and again and finally it told her to really get serious about making the end as special as the rest, and she did, and when she did, there were two things that rose as the things that mattered most: Love and now. Maybe lovenow - not then, not tomorrow, lovenow, and of all those people she loved, there are some she will miss most.

At the front of that long line there are her two strong and amazing daughters, Alexandra Perreault and Clara Borders. Run into Kate anywhere anytime and those two are not an eyelash away from her thoughts and her heart, even when that muscle was heading for the exit.

Kate believed in the power of love, that it can flow from one to another and not run out. For Kate, love, and friendship, those were not finite things, the spigot could be left on, run all day, all week, all year, and it does, right now, it just flows along, from Kate to you, and from you on, and especially it flows to Alexandra and Clara and and their amazing kids, Mabel, Bo, Amani, Dylan, Karina and Charlotte. By way of Alexandra, Kate also got Adam Perreault, who was the wonderful son Kate got late in life. Finally there are her beloved three siblings, Farland, Howard and Peter, who tried hard to be with Kate on their big sister’s journey from the place where they could still dance with her, to where she went.

Finally, to all the people in St. J who maybe felt that love, and sent it back Kate’s way. What a gift you gave - to send her from this life, as rich as anyone can be.

A celebration of Kate’s life will be held at the United Community Church in St. Johnsbury, VT on February 8th at 2pm.

Memories and condolences may be shared with family at saylesfh.com.