At the same time baby Helen Katherine Greene was born June 1, 1954 in Morrilton, Arkansas, her dad, Richard G. Greene – who had just been shot in Korea and was being carried head-first down a mountain – got up and walked the rest of the way out. Kat inherited his courage and determination, which her mom, Jean Muncy Greene, soon had to contend with, but turned out to be an asset for her and all who loved her.
After Kat’s father got out of the army, he bought a light aircraft and flew his family all over, which was helpful because they moved many times for the various jobs he worked in Arkansas; Tucson, Arizona; Lake Chelan, Washington; and Norman, Oklahoma among other places. Kat also loved to fly and accompanied her dad on many trips, sometimes taking over the microphone, creating a little havoc. She was precocious in school and her raised hand was frequently ignored to give other kids a chance to answer the question. She was almost always right but sometimes fudged just a little to outfox teachers and classmates.
One of Kat’s favorite places in the world was the hill behind the orchard in Lake Chelan, Washington, where she spent most of her free time going up its steep slope. One of her best friends was a her large Siamese cat, Pyewacket. While living in Norman, Oklahoma, one of the neighbors was the caretaker of Lucy, the famous chimp who could communicate by sign language. Kat was amused that the sign for lemon was “strange hurt fruit.
High school years in Norman brought conflict and turbulence with her parents, and at age 17 (in 1972), she left home to live with friends in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These were days of flying on LSD, adventuring, and other social experiments. Sometimes, because of the various people she lived with, she’d wake up in the morning to find the whole house interior painted a different color with all the furniture rearranged. She made many close friends there but that life became tiring. She went onto join the Air Force Reserve, completing her service in 1976.
Kat liked to say she had lived in 54 places by the time she was 20. Somehow she got word that there was a vegetarian commune in Lawrence, Kansas, so she moved here in 1977. No, it wasn’t a commune or vegetarian, but she found a bunch of simpatico people and moved in with them next to the Bierstube (a beer bar), where she loved to shine spotlights on idiots peeing behind the bar.
Kat got a job as an elementary school para and loved tutoring kids in math, which she was very good at. She was kind, compassionate and generous and had a way of explaining things that comforted people. She bought a house on Pennsylvania Street, and she got a secretarial job in the biology department at the University of Kansas while living with her boyfriend, John Curry. She learned to drive and soon was on her own again.
Shortly afterwards, at a wholistic health meeting at the Appropriate Technology Center in 1982, she met Daniel Bentley and they soon became a pair. Dan recalls how they would walk each other home, first to Kat’s house, then back to Dan’s, talking so much that they continued going back and forth until they became exhausted. Eventually, they solved the problem by Kat moving in with Dan at his Delaware Street house. This led to marriage in 1985 with a five-person wedding, the ceremony conducted on the banks of the Kansas River by friend Sara Martin with Rita Hiddleston (Irwin) and Sherry McGowan as attendants.
Kat went to KU to get her BA in American Studies, graduating in 1989 with departmental honors. All along and beyond, she worked hard at the biology department, then at the KU Law Library in acquisitions and at the information desk. She also attended Emporia State University, going to school part-time while working full-time, to earn her Masters Degree in Library Science in 2004. She was eventually promoted and received tenure in her role as an Automation and Acquisitions Librarian. W. Blake Wilson, MLIS, JD, assistant director of the Wheat Law Library at KU, said of Kat, “Those of us who had the pleasure of working with Kat got to witness a librarian of exceptional intelligence, wit, and compassion.” She happily retired from the KU Law Library in 2012.
Kat could do it all. She loved travel and flew all over the country to visit friends and places and to attend conferences. She also loved being at home, cooking excellent meals and spending time with Dan and a various pride of cats. These were formative years of the Kansas Area Watershed (KAW) Council and much time was spent at camps all over the Kansas watershed, where she was famous for feeding everyone. At one point Kat and Dan were attendants at the births and deaths of a number of people. They thought of hanging out a sign that said “We do deaths and entrances.”
In 1989 Kat and Dan bought a home and acreage on Lake Street in North Lawrence, Kansas. It became the site of remodeling, time spent in the garden and many fun parties. On Lake Street the household entertained a large parade of cats. Kat loved to cook, especially for holiday meals, Kaw Valley Organic Garden Club meetings, and Kaw Council meetings. Her pies were legendary.
Kat also started devoting time to writing poetry and was a member of several writing groups, including the Wakarusa Nine. She regularly attended Brave Voice retreats with Kelley Hunt and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg in the Flint Hills. She was a founding member of Second Sunday Goes Forth (a women’s poetry group that came out of Brave Voice). She also participated in a sewing club, The Sewing Circus, and she was an accomplished seamstress. Kat was a member of River City Investors, where she learned to superbly manage money with the help of her friend, Barbara Braa..
Kat’s dad passed, and her mom lived alone for a time in Houston, which was a trial for Kat, who made many trips there to help. Eventually Kat moved her mother, called Miss Jean by everyone, to Lawrence, where Kat could lovingly attend to her until her death.
Kat was full of positivity and love for everyone and everything. She loved creatively preparing food, her many cats, writing poetry, reading, her friends, her home, and her husband. Kat was color-blind; one of her only prejudices was against bigotry.
In September of 2024 we discovered that Kat had a benign tumor in the lining of her brain. The main symptoms were extreme sleepiness and mobility issues. Her personality changed a little as she became more childlike and whimsical, and she could lock down on contemplating a crack in the ceiling or on the floor, but she was also still all Kat. Kat spent a lot of time lolling on her bed with her best cat pal ever, Ruby.
On January 15th, Kat entered Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kansas to have surgical removal of the tumor. The surgery was very successful but as a complication, the next day she developed swelling of her brain, and went into a coma. The swelling caused massive irreversible brain damage, and she passed over on January 18 at 2 p.m. surrounded and held in light by six loving friends.
Dan shares that Kat and he spent the last days listening to all kinds of music, especially Lang Lang and Yuja Wang, pianists of classical music. The last movie they watched was Wicked. Now she’s defying gravity. Dan goes on to say, “Kat took my cup, ‘half empty,’ and filled it to the brim. We called each other, ‘wife,’ ‘husband’ and ‘beloved.’ My best friend, my wife, my beloved, I will hold you in my heart-of-hearts forever.
Close friends in waiting: Janice Melland; Ken Lassman and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg; Walt Babbit and Ardys Ramberg; Joey Hickey; Beth Schultz; Roland Garner; Thomas Wheat; Rita Irwin; Barbara Braa; Chris Elwood; Bob, Patricia and Lena Marvin; Daniel, Natalie and Forest Lassman; Stephanie Mills; Julie Flora; Nancy Hubble; Cousin Sharity Saia; Sister-in-Law Dee Ann Wilkison; Aunt Nancy Stapleton; Uncle Larry Thomas; and lots of nieces, nephews and cousins; and her cat, Ruby.
An event to celebrate her lovely life will be held on her birthday, June 1, 2025 at the Wetlands Discovery Center from 1-4 p.m., including time to share memories, and as befits Kat’s love of baking and eating pies, a pie potluck.
Donations in her name may be sent to The Land Institute (https://landinstitute.org/) and The Kansas Land Trust (http://klt.org)—
