Kathryn R. Holder

Kathryn R. Holder died on March 28, 2025, in Aiken, South Carolina, at age 96, after a full and rewarding life.

Kathryn’s primary adage was, “If you are interested in human nature, you will never run out of material,” and she lived that truth. Remarkably, she could talk with anyone about anything. For nearly a century, she loved people—observing them, learning from them, and helping them. Honest, funny, and strong, she had a dynamic energy and an insatiable curiosity. Kathryn was wise, optimistic, pragmatic, insightful, curious, service-oriented, and never bored. She was truly “delightful.”

Kathryn Anderson Robinson was born July 27, 1928, in Clinton, North Carolina, to Albert Grady Robinson and Rosa Moye Mercer Robinson. She had four brothers. Clinton was a small, agricultural county seat, where she spent childhood in the depression years and high school during WWII with graduation at age 16 from the 11th grade, in a class of 45. She attended her mother’s college, Queens College in Charlotte, NC, a Presbyterian women’s liberal arts college, and graduated in 1949. She was editor of the college newspaper and president of Kappa Delta sorority.

After college, Kathryn started her teaching path, which led her to Marion, VA, Reidsville and Winston-Salem, NC, and then, after marriage, to Philadelphia and Melrose, a suburb of Boston. In Reidsville she met Thomas Martin Holder (“Tom”), a student at Wake Forest Medical School. They married in 1953. Kathryn moved north to join Tom in his residency years. She taught school in the big cities and he came home intermittent nights as his rotations allowed, until she “retired” in 1958 when their first child was born. Their Boston years were especially happy, with the university community and with seven friends from her high school among the residents, graduate students, and spouses.

In 1960, Kathryn and Tom moved to Kansas City for Tom to take a position as the first Surgeon in Chief at Children’s Mercy Hospital. The Holders had three children and Kathryn devoted her energies to supporting Tom’s demanding professional career (including hosting dinner parties and proofreading over 130 academic manuscripts), corralling strong-willed children, managing a household, and volunteering in the community. Her decades of enduring service were in tutoring reading in the Kansas City, MO, public schools and in support of the symphony and her church. Until her early 90s, she was a 30-year member of ATC (Alternate Tuesdays Club), one of Kansas City’s oldest women’s study clubs, and she wrote and presented a research paper each year. Her unexpected Kansas City highlight experiences were competing once in the American Royal horse show, doing original research for ATC in the Truman Library, and serving as president of the Mission Hills Homes Association.

Kathryn had two astonishing experiences that arose from being a “medical wife.” She and Tom were houseguests of the royal family of Belgium in Laeken Palace, Brussels, for a week in 1958. (The invitation resulted when Tom was the senior resident on the heart service in Boston and participated in the care of their royal son.) Later, Tom’s opportunity for a sabbatical year took the family to England in 1969-1970. Her most recent unexpected delight has been the arrival of two great-grandchildren, Wylie and Sylvie, and following them daily from afar.

In their early nineties (in 2019), Kathryn and Tom moved to Aiken, SC, to be closer to family. Kathryn proved her tenacious and caring mettle by supporting Tom through his final years with dementia, and outliving him, as was their shared goal.

Until the end, Kathryn felt fully challenged, fully engaged, and fully contributing from her abilities and position. She offers her gratitude to friends and family for a lifetime of support and encouragement.

Kathryn was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas M. Holder, M.D., her parents, and her brothers Robert Edmond Robinson, Albert Grady Robinson, Jr., and James Hendry Robinson. She is survived by three children, Celeste Holder Kling (Robert), Thomas Martin Holder, Jr. (Becky), and Kathryn Holder Viele (Steve), three grandchildren, Kali Holder (Kaden Borseth), Matthew Kling (Zoe Sheldon), Alexis Hoffkling (isele harper), and two great-grandchildren, Wylie Holder Jewett and Sylvie Huntington Jewett, as well as her brother Redmond Mercer Robinson, extended family members, and countless grateful friends.

In lieu of flowers: Second Presbyterian Church (KCMO), Veterans Community Project (Tiny Houses), Indian Medical Health Service (Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health), or charity of your choice.