Kathryn Joy Koch Owens Guthrie passed away on 1-17-2020 surrounded by her “men” and still hoping for another female to balance the testosterone. Born in Las Vegas, Nevada on 4-17-1954, Kathy blamed Vegas for her love of gambling and blamed picnicking under a mushroom cloud for her physical ailments. Kathy is survived by her husband Lee, father Frank, sister Karen, brother Doug and her proudest achievement a blended family featuring sons Lynn and Ken (Jason) and her own beloved Matt, along with grandsons Jayden and Levi. Kathy was preceded in death by her mother Carolyn who died from complications of Parkinson's Disease.

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Kathy and her parents moved to Pocatello, ID when Kathy was 1 1/2. Kathy enjoyed her years in Pocatello. Summers were spent with cousins and friends camping, fishing and boating at Twin Lakes and Rainbow beach and watching her dad drive a stock car that uncle Jim kept going. She even enjoyed working in a sandwich shop at a local truck stop. Kathy’s favorite day was when the book mobile came, she was an avid reader for the rest of her life. The family moved from Idaho to Salt Lake City where she attended Cottonwood High from 1970-1972. Kathy was not happy about leaving friends behind, so she relocated herself to Pocatello for a short time. But she was tracked down and returned to her worried parents. Kathy finished her time at Cottonwood High then went to Utah State University. While Kathy loved to learn, those tests were just annoying. After one year, Kathy decided full time employment was her career path.

Kathy went to work at Chris and Dicks where she honed her sales skills. With a smile, open personality and a huge heart, she developed friendships for a lifetime. Kathy was working at White’s laundry service when she met David Owens and got married in 1975 she went with him to England . While the marriage didn’t work out, Kathy made good use of her time overseas touring France and Spain with the other NCO’s wives from the Air Force base at Ipswitch. One of Kathy's great loves was the right hand drive green MG she bought used while she couldn’t afford to have the car shipped back to the states she did smuggle her dog out. Kathy divorced David in 1977. When asked about David, Kathy would just say hurricane Andrew swept him out to sea.

After returning from England Kathy worked at various jobs before going to work for Ma Bell in 1978. Kathy’s sales talent kept improving. While working in Yellow Page sales, she had her best quarter ever in her last trimester while carrying Matt. As the story goes all the customers were afraid she would go into labor so they hurried up and bought whatever she proposed.

After Matt was born in 1981, Ma Bell began breaking apart and during this period Kathy worked for various AT&T spin offs including Sears Business systems selling phone systems and the infamous AT&T desktop computer. After being laid off twice and surviving two strikes over the next few years, Kathy found her way back to US West as a Service Representative. Kathy was grateful for all the support her family provided during this time. Upon returning she became active in the union and became a steward and later a chief steward. Kathy loved it, she fought for truth and justice while getting paid for it. Later she took a year off and worked on an organizing campaign for CWA at AT&T universal card.

It was Matt and Kathy vs the world for 13 years, with the family having Kathy’s back. Then Kathy took on her biggest challenge to date when in 1994 she married Lee Guthrie, who brought two more sons, Lynn and Ken in to the mix. All blended families have growing pains and this was no exception, from different parenting ideas to the great bunny war, it looked like Lee would only get the Only cowards cook on low eighteen months she promised him. But when your best friend is your love crazy things happen and you get 25 ½ years.

Kathy retired in 2002 from her favorite job, working outside as a technician. She loved to brag about climbing ladders even though she had a fear heights. Kathy’s body couldn’t stand up to the rigors of the job. Upon retiring Kathy went to Salt Lake Community College to work on a radiologist degree. She even enjoyed taking tests until anatomy kicked her in the butt. Kathy went back to her strong suit and became a real estate agent. While she sold 3 homes in 4 years, it was more physically demanding then she anticipated.

It was at this time Kathy decided to take classes in working with stained glass, a pursuit she loved and was good at. Many relatives and friends enjoyed the fruits of her labor until she lost the feeling in her fingertips. During this time she also took a couple of writing courses and wrote a fictional comedy “DNA Disaster” which should be published posthumously, we all need a good laugh now and then. Remember Kathy had the gift of hyperbole so some of the stories are best taken with a grain of salt.

Kathy and Lee enjoyed traveling, especially with friends and family until it became too much work. In February of 2019 Kathy was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease just six weeks before watching her mom pass from the ravages of the same disease. Kathy accomplished many things in her lifetime including becoming friends with Bill W. for the last 15 years and doing volunteer work within AA. Still, it was helping create a blended family full of love for one another that was her crowning achievement, three wonderful sons and two awesome grandsons.

In lieu of flowers, donate to your favorite charity or even better do something nice for someone. We will always be in debt to our wonderful friends and our neighbors on Turnagain Cove.

Services

Celebration of Life

Saturday, Sep. 19, 2020 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Desert Star Playhouse
4861 S. State
Murray, UT 84107

Family

  • Survived By
  • Frank Koch, Father
  • Karen Koch, Sister
  • Doug Koch, Brother
  • Lee Guthrie, Husband
  • Lynn Guthrie, Son
  • Matt Guthrie, Son
  • Ken Guthrie, Son
  • Jason Trowbridge, Son-in-Law
  • Max, Pet

Life Story Info

Author

Lee

Post Date

Sep 14, 2020

Personal Info

Born

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Died

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Cause of Death

Illness

Age

65

Gender

Female

Religion and Beliefs

Lutheran

Occupation

Writing & Editorial

Worked For

  • Qwest Communications
  • Union Organizer
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Guestbook

Kathy you were the best. I miss the times you and Lee would come in to see me at Dennys. You made my day. I will always miss you and sending my love to all the family as I was so fortunate to know so many of them. RIP my friend.

Stella Lewis , Taylorsville , UT, US Sep 14, 2020

Miss that huge heart of yours my love

Lee Guthrie Sep 14, 2020

Timeline