Kathleen Sebastian

Bill and Katey 50th Anniversary Kathleen Katey Sebastian was born on September 14, 1921, in Whittier, California, to Harry and Ruth Phelps Ball. She died on Thursday, December 27, 2007, at the age of 86 after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. Even in her illness, she lived life with no complaint and with love for those around her. Katey was the second of five children, and her mother's nickname for her Little Mary Sunshine pretty much described her. She was full of the dickens, and her children and grandchildren never tired of the tales her younger brother Bud would tell of Queen Kathleen and her cohorts. He told of her convincing him he could fly off the barn - to the tune of a broken collar bone; lying in the road playing dead until a motorist stopped - and then running away laughing; selling tickets to plays she directed in the front yard; spitting on the new rug in her kindergarten class, and sticking her tongue out at the boys. Katey had already completed a year of college by the age of 17, unheard of at the time. She graduated from Whittier College at the age of 20. Bill lived two houses from Katey in Whittier. She teased him endlessly ... and he was smitten. He sang her love songs in his Model A Ford. In fact, Bill never stopped singing to Katey, often standing outside their bedroom door serenading her with his ukulele. They married secretly in 1939 when she was 17, honeymooning at the Long Beach Boardwalk, riding the merry-go-round. It was several weeks before she was brave enough to tell her parents and actually move out. In 1946, Bill and Katey sold what they had and bought the Kerman Telephone Co. and moved with six-year-old Ruthie to Kerman. Katey taught school in Biola and tended the switchboard on the operator's night off. Poor but happy, the family of three lived in the back of the Telephone Co. for six years until they could afford a house. Katey enjoyed teaching school and always had ex-students come up to her and say hello. When her own children were older, she began teaching English as a second language at Kerman-Floyd Elementary School. She later served as a mentor for girls at the same school. Some of her projects and stories were professionally recorded and were still being shown on educational TV when her own daughters began teaching. Because she believed elementary students should learn a foreign language, she served on the Kerman School Board and for many years Spanish was taught at Kerman Elementary School, a novel concept at the time. Katey was active in the Kerman Women's Club, Kerman Soroptomists, Kerman Methodist Church, Planned Parenthood, the Symphony League, the San Joaquin River Parkway and Eaton Trail, and many other worthwhile projects and organizations. She was usually one of the quiet ones, volunteering and providing financial support, but never in the spotlight. Katey was also involved in many activities with Bill, as he was Commodore of the Fresno Yacht Club, president of Rotary, president of the California Independent Telephone Association, and many other organizations. She was the loyal, supportive wife, as well as strong in her own right. Though Katey did not choose to be a leader, she could light up a room with her smile, and had a delightful, lighthearted enthusiasm that endeared her to everyone. Bill and Katey had a sailboat of some kind throughout their 62 years of marriage. The first two were homemade, and one of them sank. They sailed the Greek Islands and the coast of Turkey, and survived a hurricane while sailing with friends in the Caribbean. They sailed by moonlight, by friendship, and in local races at Millerton Lake. They sailed in the annual High Sierra Regatta for 45 of 46 years, interrupted only by the birth of a daughter during Regatta week. Bill and Katey won the first National Championship in the SJ 21 sailing