Kathryn Richards Cavendish, 78, passed away on November 16, 2015 in Tallahassee, FL after a lengthy illness.  Kathryn was born on December 24, 1936 to Enoch M. Richards and Mabel Langford Richards of Altha, FL.  After graduating from Altha High School in 1954, she attended Chipola Junior College and earned her B.S. in Social Work from Florida State University in 1958, majoring in Criminology. 

Kathryn's career path led her to an internship at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, WV.  Mutual friends arranged a blind date with the town's most eligible bachelor, Dr. Carl L. Cavendish.  They were married in Altha, FL on December 30, 1958, and Kathryn took over the business office of her husband's medical practice.  She was active in the Eastern Star, the Masonic organization for women, and served a term as President of the West Virginia Society for Osteopathic Medicine's Auxiliary Committee. 

In the 1970s she returned to Florida and began working at the Florida Department of Corrections, where she initially served as a classroom teacher.  After retiring as a classification specialist in 1999, Kathryn lived a quiet life peppered by travels with friends and visits to her children and grandchildren in Arizona and Colorado.  Her hobbies included music, reading, computers, Skyping with her grandchildren in Colorado, cheering on the Seminoles, and weekends at her family's cottage on Lake Santa Fe, where she would spend hours digging for arrowheads with her granddaughters.  In her later years, Kathryn became an active member of the community at Allegro Senior Living and enjoyed playing cards and performing with the "Gangsta Grannies," a hip hop dance group.  She was also an enthusiastic member of the Red Hat Society.

Kathryn is survived by two daughters, Margaret Cavendish Ossorio (Earl) and Ellen Cavendish Fabian (Christian) of Tallahassee; son, Richard Cavendish (Carrie Lamanna) of Fort Collins, CO; five grandchildren, Kaelin, Piper, Ariel, Lucia, and Vincent; and best friend, Doris Gavins.

Arrangements are underway for a celebration of her life to be held in the late spring of 2016.  

Memorial contributions may be sent to Black Cats & Old Dogs Animal Rescue at www.blackcatsolddogs.org.