Kathleen was born to Rector and Mae Harris in Harrison, Arkansas in 1926. She was the fifth of eight children: Virginia, Mary, John, Norman, Josephine, Bobby Dean, and Baby Marian. As a child, she did chores on the family’s Depression Era farm. During her school years, she enjoyed playing basketball and playing preacher to her siblings.
In 1943, she boarded a bus to the Northwest where she married Leonard Edward Wood, also of Harrison, Arkansas. Together they made a life in Washington State where both worked on multiple civil engineering projects, one of which was the Manhattan Project; she as a secretary and he as a construction worker.
Throughout her career, she became an accomplished typist where she could type up to 120 words per minute on a manual typewriter. At the height of her career she was named Manager of Procurement for Stone & Webster Engineering, CO. at their Denver office. She was also noted as a Who’s Who of Women in Business by the American Registry.
She was very active in her church, teaching Sunday school at all levels, playing piano, and singing in the church choir. In her leisure time, she was known to crochet and quilt.
Her marriage to Leonard lasted for 50 years, during which they were parents to three daughters: Kathy, Carol, and Candace. She was preceded in death by her parents, siblings, her husband Leonard Wood and her daughter Kathy McMillan. She is survived by her daughters Carol Robinson of Houston, TX and Candace Wallendorf of Westminster, CO. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Peter Robinson of Seattle, WA, Ian Robinson of Houston, TX, John Wallendorf of Denver, CO, and Jillian Wallendorf of Westminster, CO.
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