Katherine "Kathy" McCarty (nee Kelly)

Kathy McCarty of Lexington, Massachusetts, passed away on Friday, October 2, 2026, in Burlington at the age of 82. Always kind and possessed of a wealth of knowledge, she devoted her life to helping people heal, to teaching children, and to caring for her family.

Kathy was born on January 20, 1944, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to the late John and Arlena Mills Kelly. She grew up as the oldest of seven children, with her family calling her "Captain Charlo" for the way she looked after her younger sisters and brothers. Growing up in Rhode Island, she was a Girl Scout, an experience that shaped the rest of her life.

She earned her Registered Nurse certification at the Peter Bent Brigham School of Nursing in Boston. During her time in Boston, she met her future husband and life partner, Mike McCarty. She continued her education at Salve Regina College in Newport, Rhode Island, where she also worked as the dorm nurse. Mike & Kathy married on August 28, 1965. Soon after, Mike's work took them to Greensboro, North Carolina, and he was drafted into the military. Eventually he was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, where Kathy joined him and worked in the base hospital.

They started their family in St. Joseph, Michigan, where Michele was born, and Patrick followed in La Porte, Indiana. After a short time in Los Angeles, the family moved to Mercer Island, Washington, where Maureen and Bill were born.

On Mercer Island, Kathy led her daughter Michele's Girl Scout troop. She was also a member of a ladies' hiking group that hiked every week, rain or shine. After the family returned to St. Joseph, she earned her master's degree in education from Western Michigan University and began a second career in the classroom, teaching at a Montessori school in Benton Harbor and then fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary School in St. Joseph. She loved being a teacher.

Once the children were grown and she had retired, Kathy and Mike moved to Florida. She soon became a certified Master Gardener. She took up golf and joined a number of clubs. They later moved to Arlington, Massachusetts, and eventually settled in Lexington, where she kept her grandmother's African violets blooming through the winter. She enjoyed nature, whether hiking, golfing, or working in her garden.

All of her life, she was very skilled in sewing, cooking, baking, and especially knitting. She made hats for many of her family members' and friends' babies, and even knitted hats for great-grandchildren yet to come. In recent years, she and Mike made a habit of visiting Goodwill to buy used winter coats. Kathy mended, washed, and donated the coats to a coat drive in Boston.

Kathy is survived by her husband, Mike McCarty; her children, Michele Walsh and her husband, Terry; Patrick McCarty and his wife, Tara; Maureen McCarty and her husband, Phil Tedesco; and Bill McCarty and his partner, Adam McGee; her eight grandchildren, Emma Walsh (fiance Cameron McClelland), Jack Walsh, Kelly and Erin McCarty, and Greta, Julian, Frank, and Edie Tedesco; and her siblings, Karen Roebuck, Colleen Kelly, Kris Shumate, John Kelly, Karla Kelly, and Mike Kelly. She also leaves many nieces, nephews, and friends.

Memorial services will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Kathy's memory may be made to Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England, 500 Greenwich Ave., Warwick, Rhode Island 02886, or online at http://gssne.org/en/support-us.html.