Lover of Art Is Remembered This Month

On Aug. 14, a great friend of the arts and her family offered a final gift to those Kathy Troutner-Johnson left behind: a memorial service rich in music, dance and poetry. Kathy passed away Aug. 10 of cancer. During her 89 years on this planet, she spun on her dancer's feet, skied and hiked on her environmentalist's legs, and appreciated and enhanced beauty with her artist's heart everywhere she lived, from Maine to New York City, Baltimore, Sun Valley, Paris, Boise and McCall.

I first met Kathy in the 1980s, when she was active in the Ada County Fish and Game League. As my husband and I discovered Idaho Dance Theater, the Langroise Trio and Boise Chamber Music Series, we eventually learned of Kathy's generous and generally anonymous support of these (and many other) arts endeavors. Her fierce attachment to the natural world led her to provide leadership and funds to the Idaho chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Snake River Alliance, Western Watersheds Project and the Idaho Conservation League; her $1 million gift in 1999 allowed the state to purchase Box Canyon on the Snake River. In 2008, the Fund for Idaho honored Kathy with the Nelle Tobias Award for Philanthropy - especially appropriate since Kathy had known and respected Nelle for her conservation work.