T. Katherine ‘Kat’ Thomason

Humanities professor, 56T. Katherine “Kat” Thomason, 56, of Pendleton and Warrenton, died Sunday, April 13, 2003, at her home in Pendleton.

Mrs. Thomason was born June 26, 1946, in St. Charles, Ill., to Lola and John Sheldahl.

She moved to Oregon in 1949, from Illinois, settling in the Oak Grove area. After attending Milwaukie High School, she graduated from the University of Oregon summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, in 1968. She earned a Ph.D. in English Renaissance Literature in 1974. After she married Corned Thomason in 1966, she worked summers at the Bumble Bee Elmore Cannery, an experience memorialized in two of her poems, “Tuna Run” and “Out of the North Pacific,” the latter recently published in “The Blue Collar Review.” Since 1993, she had maintained a second home in Warrenton.

A teacher at Blue Mountain Community College for 25 years, she was dedicated both to her students and to her discipline. A longtime board member of the Oregon Council for the Humanities, in 1996 she was named Oregon Community College Humanist of the Year for promoting the humanities throughout the state. The author of several scholarly articles, she was also an accomplished poet with work published coast-to-coast; her chapbook, “The Village,” is forthcoming. Family members say she also loved to run, loved her yard and loved being a mother.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by a son, Strand Thomason of Pendleton and Warrenton; a daughter, Haviland Thomason of Pendleton and Warrenton; two brothers, Baron Sheldahl of Lake Oswego and John Sheldahl Jr. of New Jersey; and a sister, Joan Cline of Portland. A son, Brons Lansing, died in 1986.

Memorial service is 1 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at the Pendleton Center for the Arts.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Oregon Council for the Humanities, 812 S.W. Washington, Suite 225, Portland, OR 97205.