Mary Kathleen "Kathy" (Clawson) Pepe
Feb 2, 1937 -
Aug 18, 2021
Lifelong Alaskan Mary Kathleen "Kathy" (Clawson) Pepe, 84 years young, died Aug. 18, 2021, peacefully, in the arms of her loving children. This preceded a long summer of hospitalization, which began with mild stroke, followed by many hopeful days of care and physical therapy and ending , sadly, in heart failure. She was known to her grandchildren as "Sweetie Pie", the matriarch of her growing family, a loyal friend and one that truly never met a stranger.
Kathy was born Feb. 2, 1937, in Cordova, Alaska to John "Jack" Clawson and Audrey (Daut) Clawson. She spent her first years surrounded by the close, caring and pioneering community of Cordova. Kathy and her mother had to leave Alaska after the start of World War II due to the invasion of the Aleutian Islands. They stayed in California with Audrey's parents until they were reunited with Jack in Anchorage before the end of the War. The family moved to Anchorage where they lived briefly in an apartment on Blueberry Hill before they moved to Doc Romig's log home for the many years following. Kathy was a cherished and only child. She maintained a close circle of childhood friends, that were like sisters to her. She finished elementary school in Anchorage and then went outside again for high school to Notre Dame in San Carlos, California.
She attended Dominican College in San Rafael, California, making lifelong friends. Kathy transferred her junior year to the nursing program at Seattle University. She graduated in the 1959 nursing class. After graduation, she moved to Honolulu, Hawaii and spent two years working at Kaiser Hospital Waikiki along with several nursing classmates. The class continued to gather for nursing class reunions for the next 50 years. Kathy recalled this time as some of the fondest memories of her life. She continued to visit Hawaii as often as she could, vacationing with friends, basking in the sunshine (no sunscreen for her!) and enjoying the tropical island life.
Kathy moved back to Anchorage in 1962, where she started a job with the Anchorage Health Department as a public health nurse. She mostly worked in Anchorage where she started the new mother and infant program, often traveling around the State providing health clinic care in rural communities. She was working at such a clinic in King Cove at the time of the 1964 Alaska earthquake and had to shelter in the hills surrounding the village during the following Tsunami warnings.
She met her husband, Michael Pepe in Anchorage in 1963 at a party at the McKinley Building, a building that her father owned and built with business partner Al Swalling. They were married at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Homer, Alaska, officiated by Bishop and friend Dermot O'Flanagan and flanked by Matron of Honor, Joanne (Seeley) Hodel and Best Man, John Keefe, on July 25, 1964. "Nine months and nine minutes later" their first daughter, Julie Ann was born, then daughter, Jeanette Marie "Jani", and then son, John Anthony. The family moved to Carmel, California for a short period while Mike went back to college and Kathy worked as a nurse for the newly established, early childhood development program, Head Start. The family moved back to Anchorage in 1974 into a house downtown on a cul du sac full of young families and near childhood friends. From the late 1970s until her retirement in 1994, Kathy worked for the, Rural CAP/Head Start program, and then for the newly established Anchorage-based program, which she and her director and friend, Sandi Haynes would name Kids' Corps.
After retirement Kathy continued nursing volunteer work with Hospice of Anchorage, the Anchorage Senior Center, Winterberry Charter School and Providence Hospital. She also loved to play bridge at the Senior center, have lunch out and about with friends and take walks in the neighborhood with her little dog, Bella.
Kathy loved life and never wanted the party to end. You could find her having lunch with friends at Simons, shopping with her granddaughters for a new hip outfit, "Driving Miss Betty," friend Betty Lou (Ervin) Broderick to their weekly appointments or meeting her family at Mass on Sundays. She often spoke on the phone to her college roommate "Colleen," and kept up with dear childhood and nursing pals "Kay, Riley and Patty", getting updates on their lives and making plans for her next cruise or trip to Hawaii.
As a devout Catholic, Kathy lived her faith and Christ's directive to "love one another" through her life's passion for caring for people, especially those most in need through her work as a public health nurse. As a lifetime member of the Anchorage community, and neighbor and friend of George and Margaret Sullivan, Kathy kept up with civic happenings both political and social.
Sweetie Pie especially loved times with her family. She stayed current on all the details of their busy lives and loved to be involved in whatever they were doing. She was "perpetually positive" believing that life was a gift and the only right response was gratitude. Kathy loved Alaska and never grew tired of the beauty that surrounded her nor the big moose in the backyard eating from the apple tree. She and her family spent many summer days in their cabin on the Homer Spit, walking the beach looking for treasures, visiting on the sunny deck listening to country music, curling up inside on rainy days to catch up on People magazine, keeping a scrabble game going or watching old movies. She often said that Fall was her favorite season in Alaska.
Kathy is survived by her children, daughter, Julie (Greg) Pepe-Phelps; daughter, Jani Pepe; and son, John Pepe. Grandchildren, Carmel (Kolbe) Zipay, Olivia (Josh) Milla, Joseph Pepe-Phelps and Audrey Pepe-Phelps; and great granddaughters, Eleanor and Julia Zipay; cousin, James (Georgie) Pizerelle of McLean, VA; and her "adopted" children, Randy (Julie) Waite and Suzanne (Brian) Stampfl and their children. Being an only child, her greatest joy, was being surrounded by her growing family. Kathy is preceded in death by her husband, Michael; her parents, Jack and Audrey Clawson; and baby sister, Julie Ann.
Although she loved flowers, Kathy, the eternal peacemaker that she was, would ask that as an act of remembrance, you would forgive someone that has hurt you, knowing that life is too short to hold on to hurts and anger. The family would ask that any monetary gifts go to Brother Francis Shelter.
A Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021 at St. Benedict's Catholic Church, 8110 Jewel Lake Road, Anchorage, AK at 2 p.m. A Celebration of Life will immediately follow at daughter Julie's home.
