Kathryn Douglass Idler

Kathryn “Katie” Louise Douglass Idler was born on July 24, 1929, in McKeesport, PA. She was the second of three children born to Harry Rogers Douglass and Ruth Heath Douglass. Her older brother was Harry “Bud” Douglass, Jr. and Audrey Douglass Deanhardt was her younger sister. Her grandparents were Philip Drennan and Mary Frances Douglass, and William George and Mary Catherine Wunderlich Heath. She was the expert on her family’s genealogy, with verified ancestors going back to early pre-Revolutionary War settlements in central and Western Pennsylvania.

She attended public schools in McKeesport, graduating first in her class from McKeesport High School in 1947. She did her nursing training, receiving her R.N. in 1950, then working at Magee Women’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. At a summer Presbyterian church camp, she met Charles Christian William Idler III and they married in 1951. He served churches in Glenshaw, PA, where daughter Ellen was born; Masontown, PA, where daughter Rebecca and son Calvin were born; New Kensington, PA; and Camp Hill, PA. Katie worked as a nurse at Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, and as an occupational nurse at the state offices of Nationwide Insurance in Harrisburg.

She was an exceptional gardener and a “home tester” of plants for Wayside Gardens; her garden was orchestrated so that no week of the blooming season went without flowers. She did remarkable needlework of all kinds: dressmaking, tailoring, needlepoint, embroidery, quilting, even slipcovers for furniture. She played the piano better than any of her children despite their piano lessons. And made cookies for everyone year-round but especially at Christmas. Notably, she was a member of the first cohort in the Harvard University Nurses’ Health Study, a significant source for research on women’s health. She was a voracious reader and consumer of news, and a lifelong advocate for social justice issues.

She is survived by her sister Audrey Deanhardt, her daughter Ellen Louise Idler and her husband Philip Ayers, her son Calvin Douglass Idler and his wife Nancy Ryan; her grandchildren Emmeline Idler Ayers and Alexander Douglass Ayers and their spouses Egemen Altunyay and Cara Elizabeth Mellea, and Nora Idler; and her great-grandchildren Ayla Louise Altunyay and Isabel Mae Altunyay.

A memorial service will be held at Christ Presbyterian Church, 421 Deerfield Road, Camp Hill, PA, 17011 on Saturday, July 11. Visitation will be at 1:00, with the service at 2:00 and a reception following. Interment of ashes will be in the church memorial garden that was established by her husband when he was pastor there. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Church World Service https://cwsglobal.org.