Katherine Anne Batchelder

Family, friends and community are heartbroken by the sudden death of our beautiful Katherine (Katie) Anne Batchelder on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 in Limerick, Ireland. She was 45.

Dedicated to healing and justice, Katie's brazen wisdom, fierce insight, brilliant loving attention and grounded presence impacted nearly everyone she met in every aspect of her life.

Born in Boston, MA, Katie grew up in North Reading with a close, extended family in New England and Ireland. She was raised with a deep connection to the outdoors and reverence for her ancestors and the land on which they lived.

As a hospice nurse, and most recently, a pediatric hospice nurse with Hope Hospice, Katie cared for patients and advocated for their needs through their final stage of life on this earth. She held space for those in grief, guiding and supporting them in loss. Katie viewed death as a part of life that required as much support and connection as the rest of it, and was deeply honored to do this work, and humbled by it.

Katie served as a nurse for thirteen years. Prior to her hospice work, Katie was a critical care nurse at The Miriam Hospital, working in the Intensive Care Unit for seven years and as a nurse at Four Women's Health, a health clinic providing supportive gynecological and abortion care. She earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rhode Island College School of Nursing.

Committed to anti-oppression and anti-authoritarian movement work, Katie's advocacy included issues related to bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, LGB and Trans rights, and environmental and racial justice. Katie was present in the community in organized and informal ways that mattered including work with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), LGBTQ Action RI, Rhode Islanders for Parentage Equality, and local political campaigns. She used her positionality to bring attention to critical matters - testifying at numerous hearings at the RI Statehouse, protesting alongside other nurses and doctors to highlight inadequate care for inmates in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and using her clinical skills as a medic during demonstrations. In the emotional intensity of movement work, Katie would always remind those around her to find joy.

Joy for Katie was often grounded in nature-the beach, the forest, wild creatures, her world of plants. Nature was her ally, her teacher and her tool, which sharpened Katie's magical ability to provide remedy. With homemade soothing salves, jars of tea, good conversation, walks, or gentle touch, Katie supported friends, family, colleagues and patients-- too many of us to count. She balanced fierceness with compassion, playfulness with sincerity, and gave people the space to be seen whole.

Katie had unwavering dedication to and pride in family. A passionate mother, partner, daughter, sister, cousin, niece, aunt and friend, Katie loved unconditionally. She will be forever missed, but her laugh, smile and love continue to radiate. She is survived by her spouse, Aarav Sundaresh, children Dhruva and Dara, parents Bruce Batchelder and Fidelma Hogan, sisters Stephanie (Bob) Smith and Emily (Brian) Powers, and beloved nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, and chosen family in the United States, Ireland, England, Australia and China.

Katie was a healer, unafraid to intertwine her life with others, deeply and purposefully. The living memory of her capacity to fearlessly love, to fight, and to hold the complexities of generations will inspire us and shape us in all of the days ahead.

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