Kathleen King Whyte

KATHLEEN KING WHYTE
ITHACA - Kathleen King Whyte was born on September 19, 1914, in New Canaan, CT, and died October 1, 2007, in Ithaca, NY. As a young girl she demonstrated a talent for art. While living in England, she studied calligraphy. Later she attended the Art Students League in New York with an eye toward book design. Kathleen's strong sense of independence allowed her to seek a career in the commercial art world and to learn to fly planes, endeavors uncommon to women at that time. She met her future husband, Bill Whyte, in the summer of 1927, aboard a steamship to Europe. The King and Whyte families became friends during the crossing. For the next ten years Kathleen and Bill saw each other only occasionally but in 1937 their friendship deepened and they married on May 28, 1938. At the time Bill, a sociologist, was doing research in Boston's North End. Kathleen joined him there and they began a long devoted marriage and intellectual collaboration. Kathleen's work as a book designer continued, including a cover for Bill's "Street Corner Society". Over the years they lived in Oklahoma, Chicago, Peru, Mexico and Spain, but mostly in Ithaca, where Bill was on the Cornell faculty. Kathleen's interest in art and international textiles grew. She became an accomplished painter and fabric artisan. She also proofed Bill's books, contributed ideas and was a full collaborator on some of his projects. Kathleen gave birth to five children, Joyce, Martin, Lucy, Bruce (who died in childhood) and John. Bill died in 2000. In addition to her four children Kathleen is survived by 12 grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. A major exhibit of her work was displayed at Kendal in Ithaca in 2003. Most of her paintings now hang in her children's homes.