KATHRYN LAMORE

Kathryn "Katie" Pankratz Atwood LaMore, age 88 of Neenah/Menasha, died peacefully on Sunday, August 18, at Lakeshore Manor Memory Care in Oshkosh, where she had lived for the past year and a half. She was born on September 19, 1930 to the late Marie (Court) and Romain Pankratz and raised in Menasha. In 1954, she married Carroll Atwood. Together, they had four children, raising them in Ohio and Connecticut until Carroll passed away in 1968. Katie then returned to Wisconsin, where she continued to raise her children in Neenah.

Never one to sit still for any length of time, Katie followed her retirement in 1995 from Crane Engineering in Appleton with years of volunteer work, helping lead the Menasha Historical Society and organizing many Menasha High School reunions for her fellow alumni. She loved to entertain and share her Lake Winnebago home with her family and friends, and filled her free time with cooking, baking, reading, decorating her home, crafting, gardening, and painting. She also was a long-time member of the Congregational United Church of Christ, Neenah/Menasha.

Katie will be greatly missed by her family and many friends, who will remember her for her spirited personality and for weathering hardships with inner strength, grace, and style.

She is survived by her four children, Anne (Andy) Mead of Portland, OR; Lynne (Doug) Blackman of Mt. Laurel, NJ; Susan (Don) Demick of Berlin, WI; and Alan (Amy) Atwood of Cottage Grove, WI, as well as by eight grandchildren, Caroline and Brooke Mead, Jennifer Carite, Sarah and Daniel Blackman, David Demick, Katie Weyenberg, and Aliza Atwood, and by five great-grandchildren. Other survivors include her brother, James (Marie) Pankratz of Sturgeon Bay and his family, as well as her cousin, Barbara (Gary) Bath of Menasha. The family is grateful for the care provided by the staff of Lakeshore Manor Memory Care and, more recently, by Ascension Hospice. Anne, Lynne, and Alan also wish to publicly thank their sister, Susan, for always being there for their mother over the past few years.

Katie was preceded in death by Carroll Atwood and her second husband, James LaMore.

 A memorial service commemorating Katie will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 28, at Neenah's Westgor Funeral Home. The family will receive friends at 10 a.m. A lunch will follow the service at the Double Tree by Hilton in Neenah. Burial will take place at Riverside Cemetery in Appleton. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the Menasha Historical Society.