Kathy Sue Altman

In lieu of flowers, charitable donations may be made in Kathy’s name to The Parkinson’s Foundation https://www.parkinson.org/, Brain Support Network, www.brainsupportnetwork.org. or to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research https://www.michaeljfox.org/.  Alternatively, please consider donating to the Community Foundation of White County in Kathy’s name. https://www.cfwhitecounty.org/.

Kathy Altman, 72, formerly of Wolcott, Indiana, passed away at 1:20am Monday, March 3rd @ White Oak Health Campus where she had resided for 5 months.

Kathy was born July 30th, 1952 at home on her family farm in rural Wolcott, Indiana to Frank and Mildred (Stinson) Altman. Kathy graduated from Wolcott High School in 1970 and worked in the area until 1980 when she left the area for Chattanooga, Tennessee. She then lived in Flint and Detroit, Michigan before moving to Chicago in 1985 where she lived for the next 17 years. In 2002, Kathy finally had enough of the cold weather and headed to California where she lived for the next 20 years.

Kathy had a genuine love for and was always surrounded by her family. The family farm was a gathering place for everyone at any time of day or night. Family dinners were often spur of the moment where Mildred would always be ready to feed anyone who dropped by unannounced at meal time. If you were lucky, it was a freshly dressed chicken & homemade dumplings or noodles - so Kathy really never met a carb she didn’t love. Kathy also had a big love for her many dogs over the years. First Abbie, then Maggie & Molly, then Milo, Cooper & Wiggins.

Of course Kathy’s work career was designed around helping others. She worked at Opes Advisors in home loan servicing from 2002 until her retirement in 2019. She was a detail fanatic, so this role was perfect for her - she was responsible to ensure all documentation was completed - it required attention to detail, many phone calls and emails on every file and a lot of detective work to complete each loan. This meant thousands of documents every month and if all went as anticipated, the result was a happy new homeowner. She was close with her team members and they enjoyed Kathy’s sense of humor and quick witted comments. She brought Wiggins to work several times a week and this would bring a smile to all of them. And of course Wiggins was happiest when she was with Kathy.  

Kathy loved sports and had many hobbies – she loved being outside and doing yard work - mowing lawns and pulling weeds until the sun went down. She enjoyed camping and hiking (she especially loved Turkey Run), woodworking, softball and laying by the beach - never actually IN the water - but she could never get too much sun! She was an avid Stanford women’s basketball fan (a 20 year season ticket holder) and was fortunate to see them in numerous Final Fours. She loved watching her nieces and nephews play every sport imaginable. Kathy also loved to travel. Big Island Hawaii was her favorite annual destination, but she also made it to Maui, Coronado, California Wine Country, Pebble Beach, Tampa Bay, San Antonio, Austin, New York City, Canada, Mexico, Turks & Caicos, Italy and many other (usually sunny) destinations.

Kathy is survived by her two sisters, Mary Inez Misch (Bill) and Barbara Schultz, both of Wolcott; nieces and nephews - Jacqui Humphreys, Pam Nesbitt (Don), Bill Misch Jr. (Fran), Bobby Altman, Deb Altman, David Altman (Dana), Jeff Misch (Marleta), Kris Poindexter McHan (Susan), Steve Poindexter (Angie), Jason Altman (Kelly), Michele Good (Brian), Jonathan Altman (Billie) and Ashley LeBeau (Jeff); also almost 50 great nieces and nephews including Erin and Loren whom she helped raise lovingly in California during those 20 years she was on the west coast.

Kathy was preceded in death by her parents and brothers Robert, Sam and Mike.

Kathy’s desire was to be an organ donor. We are hoping her donation can help find the cure for Parkinson’s Disease.  

A celebration of life is scheduled for Saturday, April 19th @ 2pm at Foster Clapper Funeral Home in Wolcott, Indiana. Interment will follow at Palestine Cemetery in Wolcott with a reception and meal to follow at the Wolcott Cafe. We will also have a celebration of life on May 10th in Los Altos Hills, California.