Katherine Koelsch Kriken
Katherine Koelsch Kriken, 76, Artist and World Traveller
Katherine Koelsch Kriken, beloved wife of John Lund Kriken, died at her home in San Francisco on June 5, 2017.
Katherine was born on June 29, 1940 in Boise, Idaho to the Hon. Montgomery Oliver Koelsch and Virginia Lee Daley Koelsch. Her family was centrally involved in the history of the state of Idaho, a place she remained strongly connected to throughout her life. Katherine received a B.A. in fine arts from the University of Idaho in 1962, where she began to paint the vivid and graphic watercolors of the exotic places and people she would then go on to see firsthand over the course of her life. In 1966 she became a stewardess for Pan American World Airways and began what she called her “flying life.” In 1979, while living on Telegraph Hill, Katherine first met her husband John Lund Kriken, renowned urban planner and senior partner at the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Their conversation began about Tahiti, Pago Pago, Guatemala, Iran, India, and the thousands of other destinations on all continents they had both visited in the course of their careers. They married on August 8, 1988, which she described as the best day of her life. Katherine loved San Francisco’s historic neighborhoods, steep streets and hill climbs which she scaled with boundless energy until the last months of her life. She was an active member of a variety of local civic groups and a contributor to social, cultural and environmental causes. Friends and family agree that she made everything around her more beautiful by encouraging us all to move forward with an awareness of global community and openness for all the experiences a fully lived life can offer. Donations in memory of Katherine to Save the Bay (1330 Broadway, Suite 1880, Oakland, CA 94612), the Californians Against Waste Foundation (922 11th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814) and the John Lund & Katherine Koelsch Kriken Urban Design Graduate Student Award, a family endowment to the University of California, Berkeley (230 Wurster Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720) are sincerely appreciated. For more information, visit http://www.halstedngray. com/obituary/KatherineKoelsch-Kriken/San-Francisco-CA/1735671