Katharina Delores Hunt, 89, died Feb. 22, 2024. She was born Oct.14, 1934, in Mountain Lake Minnesota, the first of seven children to John K. and Nina (Eitzen) Thiessen.
The family moved to Reedley, in the San Joaquin Valley, California, in 1937. During World War II, the she lived in Sacramento, California, moving back to the Reedley area in 1949. She then moved to Van Nuys, California, where she graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1952.
She married Donald D. Hunt in October 1952, and began working at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank. She worked in secretarial positions at both LAC in Burbank and LMSD in Van Nuys. In 1963, with young school-aged children and living in Santa Susana, she became an elementary school secretary in Simi Valley, California.
In June 1970, Kathy and Don moved to Oregon with their children and settled in Sixes on the South Coast where they lived for 40 years. She was employed by Port Orford-Langlois School District as a high school secretary in 1970. She retired as a business manager of the district in 1995 but continued to work in a part-time capacity at the ESD office in Gold Beach for an additional three years.
Don and Kathy moved to Marion Estates in Sublimity in 2010. They were married 61 years when Don passed away in 2013. In 2015, Kathy moved to her daughters home in Scio.
Kathy is survived by her daughter, Carol (Alan) Horstman of Scio; granddaughter, Kimberly Merrill; her daughter Sunny Merrill; granddaughter Cassidy (Merrill) Lyttle and her five daughters, Makenzie, her daughter Oaklynn Lyttle, Madeson, Brooke, Jayden, Avery Lyttle; great-grandson Caysen Childress; sisters, Neina Thiessen and Norzetta Thiessen of El Centro, California; brothers: Jon (Glenna) Thiessen of Colorado, and Donald (Jayne) Thiessen of BC, Canada; and many nieces and nephews.
Kathy was preceded in death by her husband, Donald D. Hunt; son, William M. Hunt; parents John and Nina Thiessen; and sisters, Charlotte Thiessen and Bonnie (Thiessen) Gaede.
Serving the family, North Santiam Funeral Service, Stayton.
