Kathleen (Anderson) Denison, 77, formerly of Can-do and of Buffalo, MN, died Friday, July 7, 2023, at her home in Golden Valley, MN after a lengthy journey with Alzheimer’s disease.
A Celebration of Life will be held Thursday, July 20 at Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church, 5300 10th Ave S, Minneapolis, with the Rev. Douglas Larson presiding. Visitation begins at 9:30 a.m. with a service at 11 and luncheon to follow. Memorials are preferred to the Cando Arts Council (PO Box 368, Cando, ND 58324) or the Alzheimer’s Association (act.alz.org).
A joint Celebration of Life for Kathie and Bob Denison is planned for Saturday, Aug 26 at Cando Lutheran Church, at 11 a.m., with interment in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. Watch the Towner County Record-Herald or Dunnigan-Dix website closer to the date for further details.
Kathleen Page Anderson was born to Roy and Martha (Sparring) Anderson on Aug. 22, 1945 in Denver, CO, where her father was stationed with the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. After Roy’s military discharge, the Andersons returned to their hometown of Minneapolis, building a new house and raising their family at 5845 12th Ave. South. Kathie – along with younger sisters Barb and Pat — attended Hale Elementary, Ramsey Junior High, and Washburn High School, where she graduated in 1963.
Music-making became central to Kathie’s identity at an early age. In second grade she began studying with the local piano teacher, Mrs. Grinder, who then enrolled her in competitions and also encouraged her to take up the organ. Kathie eventually earned the privilege to study with Dr. Rupert Sircom, acclaimed organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. Her first “church job” was as organist of Portland Avenue Methodist Church in Richfield while still in high school. She served without pause as a church musician until her retirement in 2017.
Kathie earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and business from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN in 1966, studying through summers to complete her degree in three years. One month into her freshman studies, she met Robert “Bob” Denison, a senior and older brother of roommate Diane. They famously became engaged at Prexy’s Pond on campus the following spring, and on Aug. 21, 1965, married at Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
Kathie worked first as a secretary at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Moorhead; when she and Bob moved to Parkers Prairie, MN, they taught alongside each other at the high school. In 1970 Bob took a new position at Two Harbors (MN) High School, and they made the North Shore of Lake Superior their home for the next nine years. It was a formative time of lifelong friendships made through THHS and Bethlehem Lutheran Church; daughters Kristin, Karin and Missy were born, and Kathie kept busy as a full-time mother and part-time piano teacher.
1979 brought major change: facing ill-health, Pete and Blanche Denison were selling the family newspaper and printing business….and their son and daughter-in-law did the buying. Bob and Kathie moved the family to Cando and went on to serve as co-publishers and editors of the Towner County Record-Herald for 28.5 years. Each wore a variety of hats to keep the business running smoothly; Kathie primarily handled typesetting, page-layout, bookkeeping, and wrote feature stories. She also helped manage the paper’s award-winning editorial page, and gained a following from her personal column, “Nurturings.” After Blanche’s death in 1993, Kathie frequently wrote the main Editorial piece, using that platform to share her distinct views on local and national cultural issues; her Christian faith always informed her words.
Following their predecessors’ example, Bob and Kathie used both the paper’s reach and their offset printing business in service to Cando and the surrounding area. Kathie was instrumental in conceiving, producing and ultimately selling history books for many civic organizations and municipalities. Her inspiration created “The Reaper” – a new, free advertising flier delivered to every mailbox in Towner County – and her brains conceived many celebratory banner ads for the area’s championship school sports teams.
Along with co-running the Record-Herald and raising her children, Kathie built other niches for herself in those years. In the mid-1980s, as a member of the Cando Park Board, she helped steer the passage of funding that demolished the old and built the new municipal swimming pool.
Unsurprisingly, Kathie made her most indelible mark as a musician of renown. She accompanied vocalists, instrumentalists and choirs at Cando and Bisbee-Egeland public schools. She played piano for Cando community choirs, Cando Arts Council shows, regional productions of Handel’s Messiah, and Fort Totten Little Theatre summer musicals. For 15 years she was the organist, choir accompanist, and children’s choir leader at Cando Lutheran Church. Later, when she and Bob attended Cando Church of the Brethren, she collaborated on piano/organ duets in worship and helped produce the annual Christmas pageant.
Kathie unabashedly felt called to offer her musical talents as a gift and a way to share her Christian faith. She visited Rest Haven Manor and later the Towner County Living Center to provide programs for residents. She taught and mentored a dozen piano students at any given time. And few graduations, weddings, or births took place among friends and acquaintances without a K.P. Denison composition to commemorate it.
Bob and Kathie sold the Record-Herald business and retired in late 2007, and the next year moved to Buffalo, MN. Kathie continued music ministry at Spirit of Joy Lutheran and Buffalo United Methodist churches, and they enjoyed proximity to the Minneapolis metro for cultural events and family visits. Kathie went on teaching piano lessons and composing, drafting and aspiring to publish a book of devotionals with correlating hymns. Even after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2015, she attended Bible studies and continued playing services at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Maple Lake. In 2018 she moved to Golden Valley, and her family is grateful her loyal husband of 57 years could be in the next room. Bob preceded her in death by just six months.
Kathie will be remembered most for her music and for her unwavering Christian faith. She collected teapots and angel figurines and loved setting a festive dinner table. She cherished being a wife, mother and grandmother, proud that her daughters inherited both her musical abilities and the desire to share them with others. She was a caring, if not voluminous, correspondent with friends past and present; anyone getting a Kathie e-mail with the first line “Just a quick note!” knew the next five pages would be anything but a quick note. Thankfully, she took teasing well and laughed at herself easily. She also held grudges for years. She bought mystery paperbacks by the dozen with a dozen already piled by her bed, and if she liked something, she’d buy five somethings and gift them to five different people she loved. And she had no qualms about making chocolate-chip cookie dough solely to eat it with a spoon.
Kathie is survived by her daughters Kristin (Bill) Young of Plymouth, MN, Karin Denison of South Boston, MA and Melissa (Chad) Habeck of New Brighton, MN; grandsons Henry and Oliver Habeck; sisters Barbara (Douglas) Larson of Deerwood, MN and Patricia (Patrick) Day of Minnetonka, MN; sisters-in-law Diane Denison of Aurora, CO and Kathryn Swank of Sheridan, WY; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her father Roy in 2000, and her mother Martha in 2019.
Online guestbook is available at www.dunnigandix.com.
Dunnigan-Dix Funeral Home of Cando, ND is in charge of arrangements.
