Katherine Stephens Novy

Katherine Book Stephens Novy is a heroine for her many achievements, but perhaps most of all for the love she has given so openly and so fully to so many. We—her two daughters, Julia and Milena—have experienced the depth and greatness of this love and it has served as an example to us of how to live a giving and empathetic life. Our children Ella, Eva, Harlan, Miles, and Roman are embraced by this love, and each has a unique relationship with their beloved grandmother, whom they know as Ninie. But far beyond us, we regularly hear from Katherine’s friends as well as first-time acquaintances about our mother’s warm spirit, her openness and beauty. She possesses a quality that strikes people immediately—it is an aura of love that is universally recognized. It is this love, combined with a deep wisdom of the human character and its capacity to overcome life’s challenges that have made Katherine a source of support and inspiration for so many.

Katherine was born in Springfield, Missouri on April 23, 1939. Her parents, Dexter and Virginia Stephens, moved to St. Louis soon afterward with their three children: Katherine’s older sister Sara Linda and her twin, Emily. When Katherine was eight years old, two years after the conclusion of World War II, her family traveled for a year throughout the United States to see historic landmarks and to settle eventually in Plainfield, New Hampshire on the Connecticut River. Her time in rural New Hampshire was full of wonderful childhood experiences—ice skating on frozen ponds, maple sugaring at local farms, and playing in the family’s barn and grounds with her twin. At fifteen, Katherine’s family moved to West Cornwall, Connecticut where her parents were employed as co-directors of the Episcopal Church Conference Center for Trinity Parish on Wall Street. These frequent relocations in her early years presented the challenge of entering new classrooms of strangers and beginning repeatedly the process of making friends. Yet this experience gave Katherine the certainty that she could learn to be at home in many places.

Katherine’s values and beliefs were shaped early in life from the daily abundance of love she received. This love from her parents and their example led her to embrace the Christian faith for which the fundamental tenet is love. Another powerful influence in her life has been the author, John Steinbeck, who poignantly portrays both the power of evil that overtakes and cripples our best intentions and the indomitable love that prevails at the core of every being.

At the age of 17, Katherine left West Cornwall to attend Oberlin College and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Religion. Soon after, she married our father, Miles Joseph Novy, a medical student at Harvard University. Katherine supported their life together working in research on the causes of mental retardation and blindness at the Boston Lying-In Hospital for Women (now the Peter Bent Brigham Women’s Hospital). After two years, she left for a position in photographic research with Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working as a member of the team that developed color film in 1963. In the years that followed, she and Miles moved to Portland, Oregon and Katherine enrolled as a graduate student in history. As part of her graduate work, she created and led the first graduate credited seminar in “Human Potentialities,” inviting presenters with national recognition. She earned an advanced teacher certification and taught history and world affairs in public and private schools.

Her career in teaching and educational innovation and development was interrupted when she began what she describes as her “life-long passion of motherhood.” In 1968 her first daughter, Milena Katherine, was born, followed by her second daughter, Julia Wells, in 1971. Katherine was a full-time mother, raising us with deep love, focused attention, and encouragement. She provided us with a secure home and fundamental educational base from which to explore ourselves, our talents, and the world. With her example, she instilled in us the values of independence and excellence. When Milena was nine and Julia seven, Katherine and Miles divorced. Katherine raised us from that time as a single mother and built a warm and supportive home full of joy and adventure. Katherine and Miles worked to maintain a close friendship, protecting us from many of the strains that might come from having divorced parents.

When her youngest daughter, Julia, began the seventh grade, Katherine resumed her career in educational development, teaching law related education to high school instructors at Lewis & Clark Law School. Her perseverance and tenacity to contribute meaningfully through her professional life—and her desire to be financially independent—helped us recognize within ourselves a sense of self-determination and leadership potential.

In 1985, the School of Business at Portland State University invited Katherine to create the first statewide Master of Business Administration program in the United States. Within six months, over one hundred students were enrolled in twelve distance learning educational sites throughout Oregon for this three-year MBA degree program. After two classes had graduated, President Judith Ramaley invited Katherine to work with the PSU School of Social Work to develop a new distance learning statewide Masters in Social Work program. This program changed the way social work was delivered in Oregon. Her success in creating and implementing the distance learning MBA program led her and her program to be honored with the national annual award of “Most Outstanding Program” from the National University Continuing Education Association.

Shortly before retirement from PSU, Katherine visited Julia in Africa, and together they climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, an experience that had a lasting effect on her. With the help of guides and porters, she was reminded that we are all dependent upon the support and guidance of others, and that the most rewarding part of climbing any mountain is not reaching the top but the process of attaining the goal.

Upon retirement from PSU, Katherine worked for the Center for Spiritual Development at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, securing national funding to offer a three-year Abrahamic Initiative led by national scholars of Judaism, Christianity, and Islamic Studies. Through this program, she took to heart and shared with others the meaning behind Nelson Mandela’s powerful words: “Without forgiveness, there is no future.”

Portland’s Trinity Cathedral has become the avenue through which Katherine extends her volunteer work in social justice and interfaith understanding and respect. Katherine speaks of one powerful lesson that has emerged from her engagement with the Trinity community: there can be no love without justice and though there can be justice without love, it is a lonely justice. It is this love that Katherine radiates so openly and that is so brightly received by any who meet or know her. We feel truly blessed to have grown up so close to this light and to be able to raise our children in its glow.

Written by her daughters, Julia and Milena