Kathleen Louise Marriott Williams

Kathleen Louise Marriott Williams (Kathy) was born September 26, 1947, in Chula Vista, CA, to Kathryn Belle Bolton Marriott and Floyd Donald Duncan Marriott. She died at Stanford Hospital, CA, on January 17, 2020, due to complications related to ovarian cancer.

Kathy's early childhood years were spent in Chula Vista with her parents and two older sisters, Liz and Margo; the Marriott family moved to Arlington, Virginia, and then Phoenix, Arizona, where a third sister, Barbara, was born in 1956. In 1958, the family returned to California, to Santa Monica where Kathy attended middle school and Santa Monica High School. Kathy was a bright and precocious child and a joy to her family.

Kathy was loyal to her close friends and family and was known for her lively wit and playful sense of humor; she was also a passionate supporter of the arts. Few would argue that Kathy was at her best when her loyalty and passion converged-for example, she was an enthusiastic supporter of her grandsons' musical abilities and was more than willing to fund drum, piano, and trombone lessons. (Happily, she was able to see first hand some of the impact she made: the last live performance she attended was a concert at Carnegie Hall where her grandson performed with his High School orchestra.) Kathy was also a devoted sister and aunt, making endless pilgrimages to Marin county to witness her niece and nephew-Julie and Benny Morris-on the soccer field or baseball/softball diamond. She rarely missed a birthday party or graduation.

Kathy was intellectually gifted (some might say she was brilliant) and was an outstanding student. After graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1965, she attended Stanford University where she became a member of the chorus and Ram's Head Theatrical Society; a highlight of her Stanford experience was a semester abroad with the Stanford in Britain group (June - December 1966). In England, Kathy lived in Harlaxton Manor-an old manor house in the Lincolnshire district north of London. As part of a Shakespeare class there, she and classmates put on a production of "Measure for Measure." To round out her college experience, not only did Kathy earn a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, she got married (William Williams, m. 1967, div. 1981) and had a child (Gwyneth, 1968). She faced the challenges of being a student and a new wife and mother head on and graduated with honors in 1969.

When Kathy decided to enter the workforce in the mid 70s, she worked for American Institutes for Research (AIR) conducting follow-up interviews with participants in an educational research study. She then moved to a nascent Apple Computer, Inc. where she put her writing and organizational skills to work as a technical writer and then as a manager in the Technical Publications department-she was at Apple when they introduced the Macintosh. Kathy finished out her tech career at SUN Microsystems.

Music and singing were always part of Kathy's life. At an early age, she learned piano from her mother, who was a music teacher. In the 1970s Kathy sang with the madrigal group "Cricket"; in the 1980s she was the lead singer in the classic-rock garage band "Crosley Shelvador" (named after the bass guitarist's refrigerator); and in the 90s she studied voice with the opera singer Lillian Loran. It was Lillian Loran who officiated when Kathy married her second husband and love of her life, Robert (Dan) Putman in 1993.

Kathy began writing and acting in earnest in high school. Kathy loved live theater of all kinds, and would make annual pilgrimages to Ashland, OR, accompanied by members of her book club (to which she belonged for over 30 years). However, one playwright in particular caught her fancy, and that was Sir Noel Coward. It's possible that this love for Coward and his work was fostered in the summer before Kathy started college: it was then that she performed in Los Angeles at the Bluth Brothers Theater in a production of "High Spirits," a musical adaptation of the Noel Coward play "Blithe Spirit." Kathy admired Coward to such an extent that she joined, and then became the West Coast liaison for, the Noel Coward Society. She adapted the Coward novel "Pomp and Circumstance" into a play "Ah Samolo!" Readings of the play were performed at a number of small California theaters including the Contra Costa Civic Theatre in El Cerrito and the Antaeus Theatre in Los Angeles.

A tribute to Kathy would not be complete without mentioning her love of nature and the mountains, the Sierra Nevada range in particular. She and her husband Dan enjoyed many years at their home near Meeks Bay, Lake Tahoe-the family spent numerous summers (and occasional winters) together enjoying the spectacular beauty of that region.

Kathy is survived by her husband of over 30 years, Dan Putman; her daughter Gwyneth Williams Casazza (Chris), and grandsons Peter and Parker Casazza; and two of her three sisters: Barbara Morris of Forest Knolls, CA, and Margo Pepe, of Granada Hills, CA. Kathy's oldest sister, Elizabeth Lowrey, died in 2022.