Katherine F. Guerin

Katherine Francis Milnamow Guerin died of complications of Parkinson’s disease in Boise, Idaho on January 17, 2022. Born November 13, 1931, she moved to Boise from Baraboo, Wisconsin in the fall of 2018 to be near her daughter, Susan, who was her best friend and loving caretaker to the end. Katherine was preceded in death by her husband, William Leon Guerin, in 2014.

She is survived by four children, William Scott, 66, Brooklyn, New York; James Steven 65, Boulder, Colorado; Susan Elizabeth 63, Boise; and Charles Leon, 60, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Kay was a tough but tolerant mother and saw her family through a variety of ills, shortcomings, and triumphs. Grandchildren include Susan’s sons Mac and Bill Tracy; Jim’s sons Jack and Alex; Scott’s daughter Lily; and Chuck’s daughters Kelly and Stephanie. Her first child, WIlliam Scott, died shortly after birth in 1952 and is buried in San Diego. Many other family members will mourn her loss.

Kay, as she was known to her friends in Wisconsin, and Kate to her friends in Boise, was both a remarkable woman and one of her time. An only child, she was born in Elmhurst, Illinois to parents Francis Xavier Milnamow and Katherine Justine Brietling Milnamow. While attending Lawrence University, she married her husband Bill in 1951. He became an architect and designed the Mequon, Wisconsin home the family lived in from 1961 to 1988. In 1978, Kay completed her Bachelor’s degree in education from UW-Milwaukee and, soon after, she co-founded The Learning Tree preschools in Mequon and Grafton, where she was a beloved teacher for many years. Through the Junior League, she volunteered frequently and was involved in helping delinquent girls and autistic children. In 1988, she and Bill moved to Baraboo, where they made many friends. There, she worked as a substitute teacher, was President of the local AAUW branch, and volunteered her quilting, sewing, and knitting skills to the hospital gift shop raising thousands of dollars.

She loved tennis, sailing, and camping, even appearing in a Coleman ad in the 1960s. With her husband, friends, and children, Kate traveled the world to far-flung locations from the Caribbean to Malaysia and throughout Europe. She was a talented flutist, baker, and chef who tolerated her sons’ and husband’s absences during the hunting season and enjoyed cooking the results of the hunt, whether finned, winged, or hoofed.

Memorials will be held in Boise and Baraboo at times to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Kate & Bill Guerin may be made to the Carnegie-Schadde Memorial Public Library in Baraboo, WI (Carnegie-Schadde Memorial Public Library, Attn: Jessica Bergin, 230 4th Ave, Baraboo, WI 53913 www.csmpl.org)

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