Kathy Dowling, who had undergone more than 185 surgeries over the past 16 years, including four kidney transplants, was 67.
GREENFIELD — Kathy Dowling, a longtime community servant and friend to many, died Thursday, Nov. 11, after a lengthy health battle dating back to 2004. She was 67.
“She fought the good fight,” said her longtime friend, Kristin Fewell of Greenfield.
Dowling was known as much for her fighting spirit as she was her tireless service to the community she called home.
For the past 10 years, she served as a board member for both the Greenfield Parks Department and Greenfield-Central schools.
In June, she was there when friends and colleagues gathered for the dedication of the Kathy Dowling Aquatics Center in Greenfield, when the former Riley Park Swimming Pool was renamed in her honor.
Just two weeks prior, the school board voted to rename the conference room at the Greenfield-Central Educational Services Center in her honor.
The naming honors were just two examples of how respected and loved Dowling was in the community, said Fewell, who had been friends with her since the two met in fifth grade.
“It’s been an honor to know her, and to have been friends with her for so many years,” she said.
Like all who knew her, Fewell marveled at Dowling’s determination in the face of adversity.
She underwent more than 185 surgeries over the past 16 years, including four kidney transplants.
Dowling never married or had children, but those who knew her best say she developed a tight-knit circle of friends who considered her family and sustained her through the good times and the bad.
Around 5 a.m. Thursday, she passed away with friends by her side.
Throughout her life, Dowling was driven by the desire to make the world a better place.
“I’m very interested in doing three good deeds a day, whether that’s giving financially to a charity, doing something for someone else or just making someone feel better. I’m very intentional about making every day count,” she said in an interview with the Daily Reporter in January, as her health challenges continued to mount.
“I am so blessed with a community that just steps up and friends who are like family to me,” she said. “I don’t know how I could be any more blessed.”
