Every conversation I ever enjoyed with Kathy Peters ended with an exclamation point! Her exuberance rubbed off on me! She lifted me up and made me feel special. I adored her!
Quite surely, her longtime friend Tom Coen shares my feelings for one of our Collie world’s great contributors. Tom is President of the Quarter Century Collie Group. At the organization’s 2023 Hall of Fame ceremony, Coen opened with a tribute to Kathy.
“For several decades Kathy was one of John Honig’s hard-working assistants while he was President and Secretary of the Collie Club of America. For four decades she built and maintained the CCA Film Library. She transferred old VHS films to DVD for posterity. She handled the sales and rentals of films to clubs and individuals. Over the years, she filmed numerous seminars and breeder interviews—including John and Evelyn Honig, Billy Ashenbrenner, and Judie Evans, to name just a few. She used her own money to buy filming and video equipment and paid for the rights to music that she included in her final projects. Kathy was the presenter for the Quarter Century Collie Group Hall of Fame induction of Grace Christie and Billy Ashenbrenner.
She was a member of the Commemorative Collie Stamp Committee. With her close friend, Dana Rodman, an accomplished artist, they were responsible for creating the cartoons of “Doll Face” and “Shadow” to generate interest in the Collie stamp, which became a reality in 1986.
Kathy worked with Paige Elliot in making the Collie gait film. It was during this project that she met filmmaker Paul Beck. He was impressed by her enthusiasm and commitment to the Collie, and for decades after that, he provided encouragement and technical support for her projects. The CCA owes Paul a great debt of gratitude for all of his contributions. Paul writes, ‘The CCA will not see the likes of anyone else who will be able to do what she did all on her own.’ Thank You seems inadequate for Kathy. We love you and miss you.”
