Kathleen Rae (McAdam) Linn, known to her family and friends as Kay Linn, was born in January, 1927 in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Canada. Her father James McAdam was a jeweler; her mother Sibyl McAdam was a devoted mother and housewife. Kay had three older sisters: Lila Lee, Jean McNab and Lorna Westgate. The McAdam girls had a cousin who grew up with them who was like a sister as well – Sibyl McNabb. Although she had a happy childhood, Kay had vivid memories of the Great Depression – the dust storms, the hardships endured by farmers and their families, and the men ‘tramping’ to find work. This experience contributed to her strong empathy for those less fortunate.
Kay went to the University of Alberta where she got a BA. While there – Kay met Jim Linn; they married on September 15, 1948 in Edmonton, Alberta. Kay visited the Japanese internment camp located close to her town to read to the children before she went to university. She thought it grossly unfair and argued with people about it and their racism. Kay continued her university education while Jim served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII. Kay and Jim came to HI in 1950 when Jim got a teaching job at the University of Hawaii. Like many who came to Hawaii before the days of cheap airliners and long-distance telephone calls – this move meant not seeing her family for years. She and Jim fell in love with Hawaii and made it their home. Kay particularly loved the diversity of cultures and peoples. She was active in the small University faculty community and became a lifelong Democrat.
Kay and Jim moved to Los Angeles in 1952 so Jim could complete his doctoral classes at the University of Southern California; after which they returned to Hawaii. Kay became a US citizen on April 28, 1960. One of the members of the Honolulu Friends Meeting (HFM) relayed that Kay once told her when she first applied for citizenship in the US, she refused to swear an oath to “bear arms” to defend the U.S. Quakers helped her to come up with an alternative that was acceptable to the INS which is what later moved her to join HFM. Kay also strongly opposed the Vietnam War and was active in the antiwar movement.
Kay taught at Palolo Elementary School and became the first director of the Head Start program in Palolo Valley. She later went to graduate school at University of Hawaii and received a MA in Counseling in 1978. She held various jobs over the years including being a career counselor at Kapiolani Community College, she did individual and marriage counseling, had a stint as a travel agent, etc. She worked with prisoners, and led battered women’s groups and violent men’s groups at The Family Peace Center. Kay and Jim even sheltered women and children who were victims of abuse.
The Linns raised three children: son Brian (who went on to become a professor of Military History), daughter Susy (who worked as a chef and raised two children of her own), and daughter Andy (who is a social worker with the older adult population).
Kay was an avid traveler – she and Jim traveled all around the world; they also took their children and grand-children on wonderful trips over the years. She was an avid reader, loved movies and had a lively sense of humor. Most of all Kay was a conversationalist and loved to help people. She was good at sharing her opinions and was involved in more causes than can be listed in this short biography.
Jim died in September 2007. Kay continued to live in their home on Ruth Place, atop St. Louis Heights, which she loved until she died peacefully in April, 2012. She donated her body to the University of Hawaii Medical School. As they were about to put her body in the van one of the men said “Just so you know, there’s another lady in there too.” One daughter replied, “That’s okay! Our mom will get to know everything about her before you get to the bottom of St. Louis Heights!”