Kathryn S. Ragan, 74, passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family on Saturday, February 11, 2017.

Kathryn was born May 6, 1942 in Hazleton, PA. She left college to raise her young family, and would eventually have four children — Adrian Wible, Alicia Amaral, Darcy Shirley and John (JK) Wible — and eight grandchildren.

She lived many places, including Long Island, Ohio and Florida, but she loved Boston the best. Though she only moved to Boston in her 30s, she developed enough of an accent to call her beagle Marty, who survives her, “Mahty.”

Kathryn, a longtime resident of Savin Hill, was a strong and independent woman who had many occupations including insurance broker, waitress, and owner of her own recruiting firm. In her 40s, as a single mother with a toddler in tow, she went back to school, earning her undergraduate degree from UMass Boston and her juris doctorate from Suffolk Law. It was the perfect vocation for a Ragan woman -- to wit: argumentative, stubborn, and brilliant. She always liked to fight for the little guy. Though working as a public defender wasn’t lucrative, she loved the opportunities it gave her to argue in court.

The story she told about how she became interested in law was this: She sued her landlord and, though she lacked even a bachelor’s degree at the time, she put on such a strong case that not only did she win, it set precedent.

Kathryn had a great sense of humor. When people commented that she would be 45 years old by the time she graduated from law school, her comment was always, “So what? I’m going to be 45 anyway.”

A lover of travel, Kathryn went to Peru, Iceland, Vienna, Prague, New Orleans and France, always making friends along the way. These trips weren’t always announced ahead of time, or even at the time; sometimes a simple, “I told you months ago I’d always wanted to go to France” was sufficient for a woman with a spontaneous heart.

Her greatest joy and pride was her children. Her favorite way of taking care of her family was to make them a home cooked meal, no matter how busy she was. Fondue was a favorite, as was hollandaise sauce, which she always made just right. Even when it was just Kathryn and her young son JK, she’d put on a huge Christmas spread.  

In addition to her children and grandchildren, Kathryn is also survived by her siblings (who still call her Kathy), Sonny Stracka, Dan Stracka and Nancy Bergen.

Memorial service Sun 2/19, 2:30 pm, First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 630 Mass Ave, Arlington, reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation www.cff.org, or the American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org.