Kathryn E. Collier

Kathryn E. Collier

Casey, age 66, passed away on Saturday November 8, 2011 at Hospice of Cincinnati. She is survived by her nieces and nephews Tracy Salzeider of West Bloomfield, MI, Amy Dyer Golub of Birmingham, MI, Greg Dyer of Deerborn Hts., MI, and Andrew Dyer of New Haven, CT.; great nieces and nephews, Sam Salzeider, Eric Salzeider, Emily Salzeider, Nathan Salzeider, and Summer Dyer. She is also survived by her 5 best friends and supporters, Lynn Ticotsky, Nancy Morgan, Betsy Terrill, Darlene Basone, and Barb Green. She was preceded in death by her brothers, Robert Lee Dyer and Steven Lester Collier.

Casey will be interred at Arlington Memorial Gardens, 2145 Compton Rd. 45231 on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 2 p.m.

All those attending can meet at the Arlington Chapel.

This interment is our simple goodbye; there will be a memorial event to celebrate her life at a later date.

Casey seemed to live life at warp speed, as if each moment was precious and not to be wasted.

A typical day would be spent repainting a room, and/or experimenting with fiber pieces, in her studio, where she was also finishing a quilt, or starting a new quilt top, or working on a beaded purse. She might call you for an impromptu trip to a movie matinee, or for a lunch break at a local restaurant. This was after she had spent the morning with her MacDonald's breakfast cronies and done several errands. She might even have planted a whole brand new section of her garden, as she was also a passionate gardener. She also seemed to be forever rehabbing her house. Many of us referred to her as the "energizer Bunny" since she never seemed to run down or get tired.

She was one of those people who never asked "what can I get" but always "what can I give". She reminded me of that commercial that said" we don't make the product, we make the product better". Always working behind the scenes, identifying places that needed improvement or things that her technical savvy could improve, she quietly and effortlessly helped out in many many organizations.

She graduated from Miami University in Oxford, OH. and received her M.L.S. from Ball State University, in Muncie, IN.

She worked as a school librarian (media specialist) first for Cincinnati Public and then retired from Sycamore school systems. She also taught graduate courses to school librarians at Miami University. She received special recognition for her work with Ohio Reading Circle. She was an active member of the Ohio Educational Media Association and held numerous offices.

In retirement she put together the library resource center for senior health care at Deaconess Hospital. She then worked for Whitehouse Brothers Jewelers as office manager and set up their whole computer system and data base, bringing them into the 21st century.

For many years she was editor of the Withrow Alumni Newsletter, which was her high school alma mater

In her spare time, after retirement from the school system, she pursued a life dedicated to producing Art quilts. She was not only a prolific Art quilter and experimenter, but also a team organizer for many Art quilt groups. Her "left brain/right brain" ability allowed her to be creative but also a great contributor in managing the systems needed to make many of these Art Quilt organizations function more smoothly.

She was co chair for 10 years of the annual quilt show at Grailville in Loveland with the Grailville Quilters. This group eventually became the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Artists (CQAFA) which now shows annually at the Cincinnati Nature Center. She was instrumental in designing all the systems used to make these shows work efficiently.

She was a member of the Ohio Valley Quilters Guild (OVQG) , The Weavers Guild, the A.R.T.Quilt group, the AQN (Art quilt Network) out of Columbus. She was founder of the AQA (Art Quilters Anonymous) group. She was also the designer and manager of the database for Quilt Surface Design Symposium (QSDS) in Columbus.

She showed work at the Fitton Center for the Creative Arts in Hamilton, and the Carnegie Arts Center in Covington. She was always the "go to" person" for collecting the data needed to enter prestigious shows in the digital age. She aced the parameters necessary for submitting quilt images and submitting proposals for consideration in entering shows for the groups to which she belonged. She was the quintessential editor for streamlining and distilling the essence necessary for presentations.

She ran workshops for her many groups that fostered self discovery and built in success. Every summer she opened her house for a day of "summer camp" which was chance to play with new media and have adult kindergarten discovery and playtime experiences.

Before many of her artist friends knew her she was a competition ballroom dancer and teacher. We wish we could have seen her in one of those ball gowns. She was always the friend that you could go to if you were having problems with a crazy mother or not so dear husband, or even an art quilt in progress. She was never judgmental, but always offered different ways that allowed you to reassess what wasn't working and how it might be handled differently and possibly more affectively. She was a mentor to many, and encouraged each and every one of her friends to value and respect themselves and their work Many hours were spent in the nook in her den or on her back porch weather permitting, often with margaritas and munchies.

She was the friend that everyone wished they had, and she will be sorely missed.

Bless you Casey. We know you are planning workshops wherever you are now and the next time we see an angel it will be wearing Hand Dyes, have Angelina wings and crazy red hair.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be given to Quilt Surface Design Symposium (QSDS), 113 West Columbus Drive, Pickerington, OH 43147 or Hospice of Cincinnati, 4360 Cooper Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45242