Kathleen “Kathy” Sheahan Reid

Kathleen “Kathy” Sheahan Reid, spouse, mother, sister, and aunt died on Tuesday, January 20th in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 81. She was born during World War II on May 5, 1944 to Richard Eugene Sheahan and Dorothy Case Sheahan in San Marino, California.

The family moved to Montecito, California in 1951 where Kathy rode horses, raced bikes, played tennis, and swam in the Pacific Ocean. Kathy attended Montecito Union School, Crane Country Day School, and Laguna Blanca School where she won the Female Senior Character Award. Her college search eventually took her to Sweetbriar College in Virginia where she studied history. Returning to California her junior year, she continued her studies at University of California Santa Barbara.

She met her first husband, Peter Laurence Donald Reid, a Scotsman, at Thacher School in Ojai, California. They married in Santa Barbara in 1968, and later moved to Winchester, Massachusetts where Kathy assisted in opening the first Patagonia store in Boston, and was an administrator at health centers in the area. In 1984, Kathy and Peter adopted a baby and named him James “Jim” Olivier Reid. Jim described his mother as his rock who gave him his chance at life by adopting him, and was always there for him. “We traveled, we laughed, and she is irreplaceable,” he said.

After Kathy and Peter divorced, Kathy and Jim moved to Manhattan Beach, California. Kathy was hired by the Department of Electrical Engineering at University of Southern California to fundraise. Kemble White, her former college boyfriend, contacted Kathy, and the two started dating. In 2001 they wed at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes, California and were married for 25 years.

Kathy was predeceased by her parents Dorothy and Richard Sheahan, her first husband Peter Reid, and her nephew, Aidan Sheahan. Her survivors include her son, Jim Reid, her husband Kemble White, her siblings Susanne Sheahan Wilson, Marnie Sheahan Paulus (Tony), Casey Sheahan, and Caroline Sheahan, niece Jennifer Paulus (Cleve Pasarell), nephews Will Paulus (Emmie Braun), Caelin Sheahan, and Carson Meyer, and great nieces Olive and Riley Paulus.