Kathleen Headlee Marra Butts, 96, died peacefully on Aug. 24, 2021, at Kimani’s Adult Family Home in Pullman, Wash.
Mary Kathleen Headlee was born in Aleppo, Pa., to Alvah John Washington Headlee and Mary Jones Headlee. She was soon joined by siblings Ruth and Linden, and later, Nancy and David. In 1927, the family moved to Morgantown. Kathleen graduated from Morgantown High School in 1942. She attended West Virginia University, pledged to Alpha Phi Sorority, and received her Bachelor of Science degree in home economics in 1946. She earned her Master of Science in home economics Education from Iowa State University in 1948.
After earning her degrees, Kathleen taught vocational home economics at Buckhannon-Upshur High School in Buckhannon for a year before returning to Morgantown to teach at West Virginia University in the College of Education. In 1950, she met George G. Marra who was also teaching at WVU. They married April 7, 1951, and moved to Pullman, Wash., where George had taken a position as a professor of forestry at Washington State University. Pullman, Wash. is where they made their home and raised their three daughters.
Kathleen began teaching at Washington State University in 1957 in the College of Home Economics. She taught flat pattern design, draping and tailoring. She continued there until 1974 when she put her focus on attaining her Ph.D. in sociology, which she accomplished in 1976. In addition to teaching at the university, she was a 4-H leader, a charter member of P.E.O. Chapter FI in Pullman, Wash. and active in the Panhellenic Association, as well as Fortnightly, a Pullman, Wash. literary club.
From 1976-1980 she held an assistant professorship in the College of Home Economics at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, teaching clothing in contemporary society and the social psychology of clothing, commuting between Pullman, Wash. and Ames, Iowa.
When George, by then the associate dean of the College of Engineering, retired from WSU in 1980, he took a two-year appointment as deputy director of the Forest Products Research Lab, so they moved to Madison, Wis. In 1982 they returned to Pullman. George died the following year.
Kathleen then made her home in Spokane, Wash. where she discovered quilting. It turned into an all-consuming passion and a second career, including teaching, writing and pattern design. She made hundreds of quilts, all of which she quilted by hand. She continued her quilting obsession until 2018 when Parkinson’s made it impossible to grip a needle.
On March 1, 1987, Kathleen married William S. Butts, a Pullman, Wash. physician, and returned to Pullman, Wash. Bill passed away at age 96 in 2010.
She is preceded in death by her husbands, her parents and her siblings, David, Linden and Ruth Potter. She is survived by her sister, Nancy Lundberg, of Alexandria, Va.; daughters, Ann Marra (Timothy Ely), of Colfax, Wash., Susan Marra (Dave Jeffries), of Vancouver, Wash., and Cathy George (Mark), of Pullman, Wash.; two grandchildren, Megan Oldenstadt, of West Linn, Ore., and Ross Oldenstadt (Rebecca Frantz), of West Linn, Ore; stepsons, Charlie Butts (Leah Liberman), of Spokane, Wash., and David Butts (Lee), of Portland, Ore.; and stepdaughter, Kathy Warwick, of Los Angeles.
A private family graveside service was held at Pullman Cemetery.
Memorials may be made in the name of Kathleen H. Butts to P.E.O. in support of education for women, online through https://donations.peointernational.org/, or by mail to P.E.O. Foundation, 3700 Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 50312.
Condolences:
www.kimballfh.com
