From Ruth Boeker
I was extremely sad to hear about Katherine’s untimely death. I remember Katherine as an inspiring teacher, an outstanding philosopher, and a supportive, kind, generous, and caring person. I still recall some memorable examples from her lectures in an undergraduate course on metaphysics. I had the opportunity to work more closely with Katherine during my MLitt and am so grateful that she agreed to supervise my MLitt dissertation on persistence. I stayed in St Andrews for a PhD and although Katherine was not my main supervisor she continued to be very supportive throughout my PhD and beyond.
I have learned a great deal from Katherine. Talking philosophy with her was always delightful. I admire her ability to develop philosophical ideas in conversation with her students. I entered her office more than once with broad questions or vague ideas. Katherine always listened with genuine interest. She was very skilled in breaking broad questions down into several distinct smaller questions. By the time I left her office I had a manageable and exciting project.
Early during my teaching career I was asked to teach a course on epistemology. Since epistemology was not one of my main research areas I reached out to colleagues for advice. I was interested in including a unit on social epistemology, which at that time was still a relatively new and emerging field. Katherine was one of the few philosophers who had already made leading contributions to social epistemology and was so kind to share a reading list from one of her courses. She was even more generous when she agreed to talk with my students about her work on trust over Skype. This was particularly exciting for my students who had read texts by her and others on trust. Hearing Katherine talk about her work and engage with questions added another layer to her written work; it really brought her work to life. I love her work on trust. It is original, engaging, and full of insights. I will continue teaching it, but it saddens me that future generations of students and philosophers will not have the opportunity to discuss her work with her in person.
Katherine spread warmth and positivity in the spaces around her. I truly miss her.