Katherine B. Corcoran

Katherine Baroody Corcoran was the light in the room, the incorrigibly social “Kay”, who danced into her 90s, even if it required help from a walker. Leave her alone for a minute and you would return to find her engrossed in conversation with a brand new friend. Child. Teen. Senior. It didn’t matter to Kay.

The teacher, mother, grandmother and friend died Aug. 17, 2020, in Phoenix at the age of 94 after a short illness, surrounded by her family. She made the most of anything life handed her, drawing on an endless well of creativity and love.

Kay was a voracious reader, tearing through novels that she checked out by the dozens from the library. She sometimes found the bookmarks she had left in them while perusing the shelves in search of something she hadn’t already read.

The day couldn’t start without the New York Times crossword puzzle, nor end without Jeopardy. She loved cats, collectables, and was an avid Phoenix Mercury fan, snagging not one, but two Diana Taurasi bobblehead dolls, which she displayed with other players in her living room.

But her life was her six children, who called her “The Mom,” and their children and their children. She also loved her nieces, nephews and grand-nieces, to whom she was “Aunt Kay The Great.”

Katherine Baroody Corcoran was born on Feb. 3, 1926, the youngest of four children to Abraham and Julia (Brodie) Baroody. Known as “Cassie” growing up in a tight-knit Syrian community, she was an honor student at Geneva High School and the first in her family to graduate from college. She got a degree from then-Brockport State Teachers College (where she was a member of the Polar Bear Club!), then married her high school sweetheart, James Edward Corcoran, after he returned home from World War II.

She taught second grade until her oldest, Daniel, came along in 1948. She followed husband, Jim, to Elyria, Ohio, for his job, then worked as a mother and assistant in his various business ventures. When her children were older, she returned to the classroom for Elyria City School District as a substitute teacher, where she was in high demand and often took long-term assignments for teachers on maternity leave. She remained partial to second grade.

With six kids to wrangle, Kay ran a tight ship. Bed time was non-negotiable and “shut up” was banned as a swear word, though later in life it became her favorite response to political ads and beeping appliances. She instilled her brood with good manners, a proud work ethic, and a strong sense of social justice. A’s were not rewarded. They were expected.

She was creative, crocheting and knitting countless mittens, caps and slippers for cold Ohio winters, and sewing bright spring dresses for her four daughters at Easter. There was no household repair that couldn’t be fixed with contact paper, pipe cleaners, or the remnants she kept organized in her crafting arsenal.

It was a busy kitchen where she passed down the intricate steps of making traditional Syrian dishes exactly as she had learned them from her mother. Her children remember her homemade spaghetti sauce that bubbled all day on the stove, her candy wreaths at Christmas and her fabulous birthday cakes - a ball and glove for the boys and doll cakes for the girls. She made professional grade wedding cakes and created her own designs as her children grew older and discovered new interests: A tennis racquet cake, a record album cake and a typewriter cake with mini-marshmallows for keys. Even when away at college or in the army, her children still got their cakes, carefully packed, via U.S. mail.

Her respite from running a big household was her garden, where she nurtured her peony and rose bushes and generally loved to “play in the dirt.” In her final years, when she could no longer tend to her plants, she still inspected them regularly and instructed her children on what to prune.

After retiring from teaching, Kay moved to Arizona, where she joined a hiking club, volunteered at the Glendale Public Library and was a star line dancer at the Helen Drake Senior Center.

Kay is survived by her son, Daniel, daughters Carole, Kathy, Patti and Kelly, grandchildren, Amiee Malin Johnson, Ken Malin, Lisa Diaz and Cheyenne Eddy, six great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim, and her son, Gary.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Hospice of the Valley 1510 East Flower Street, Phoenix, AZ 85014, online https://m.hov.org , or the Glendale Public Library by contacting Kathy Curley, [email protected]