Catherine E Van Stralen
August 9, 1937 - August 13, 2025
Obituary
Kay Van Stralen passed away on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, at St. Joseph Residence in West Seattle after a prolonged illness. She was able to celebrate a joyful 88th birthday just days before with family and friends gathered around her.
Born August 9, 1937 in Bremerton, WA to Alice (Morrow) and George Van Stralen, Kay was a true Pacific Northwesterner! She attended Seattle University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1958, teaching in Seattle schools. Her work as an educator from 1958-1975 included inner city elementary schools and Providence High School in Burbank, CA. In 1975, she continued her education and received a Master of Arts in Theology from St. Mary’s College, California.
Kay entered the Sisters of Providence religious community in 1974. Though she left the community in 1982, she maintained a close affiliation with Providence through the rest of her life.
Kay’s warm smile, easy laugh, deep dedication, and heart for justice characterize her life and legacy in the world. Her care for low-income and multiracial families led her to serve as a community organizer with the United Farm Workers in California. She lived and worked with the Los Angeles Catholic Worker community, providing medical care and food to people experiencing homelessness.
Inspired by the L.A. Catholic Worker, she returned to Seattle and was instrumental in founding Providence Hospitality House on Capitol Hill in 1979, to provide emergency housing and community support for women with children. Her leadership also led to founding Sojourner Place transitional housing for single women in the University District of Seattle in 1987.
Kay worked with Catholic Community Services to develop the Volunteer Chore Services program for elders and Parish Social Ministry outreach for social justice. After moving to Mount Vernon in 1988, she served as an HIV/AIDS Public Health Educator in Skagit County.
Retirement didn’t interrupt Kay’s care for community. She continued to volunteer with Providence Peace Community doing outreach to unhoused people at pop-up kitchens, protested at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma and the School of the Americas in Georgia, and stood vigil against human trafficking with lntercommunity Peace and Justice Center.
Throughout it all, Kay loved singing and was a member of the Seattle Peace Chorus and the Skagit Valley Chorale, traveling to Salzburg and Vienna to sing for Mozart’s 150th Anniversary.
Travel was a source of great joy, and she and Sr. Charlene Hudon enjoyed many camping trips in their 1978 VW Camper, from California to Alaska. She and Sr. Charlene also traveled internationally to Bolivia (for Spanish language school), Peru, Nicaragua (with Witness for Peace), El Salvador, Italy, and Austria.
Kay is survived by longtime friend and caregiver, Sr. Charlene Hudon SP, the Providence Peace Community, and many friends. She was much loved by family, including her sister-in-law, Judy, and many nieces and nephews: Jann (Chris), David (Nicole), Daniel, James (Amber), John, and Julie (Kyle); plus nine great nieces and nephews, Anna, Naomi, Andrew, Judah, Mercedes, Lucia, Paxton, Ella, and Brooklyn.
She was preceded in death by her brother Richard and her parents.
We extend our deep gratitude for all the caregivers who surrounded Kay in recent years.
A celebration of Kay’s life will be held with a vigil on Wednesday, September 24, and memorial mass on Thursday, September 25 at 11:00am, at St. Joseph Residence. lnurnment at Yakima Calvary Cemetery at a later date. Memorial donations may be made to Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Seattle. Bonney Watson Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
