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Memorials: Santa Barbara Friends

Mary Kay Kamath

Date of birth

June 1, 1933*

Date of death

Aug. 1, 2009*

Meeting

Santa Barbara Friends
*Date(s) of birth and/or death approximate

Memorial minute

Mary Kathryn (Mosely) Kamath was born in June 1933 in Madison, WI to Kathryn and L. B. Mosely. Her father was an American Baptist minister. After graduating from Pennsylvania College for Women, Mary Kay attended Yale Divinity School, one of very few women admitted. She and Sanjiv Kamath from Kerala, India, were married in 1957, and moved to Poughkeepsie NY where their first two children were born. It was while they were living in Poughkeepsie that they attended Friends Meeting, becoming members in 1961. From Poughkeepsie they moved to Rochester, NY where Mary Kay was an active member of the Rochester Friends Meeting with an interest in the education of young children. She participated in the set up and running of a temporary free preschool for inner city children. Their two youngest children were born in Rochester. They lived in Wellesley, MA and then in Toledo, OH, where they offered their home as a meeting place for Friends Meeting.

The family eventually settled in Malibu, CA, where Mary Kay, who had always been involved in the classrooms and PTA’s of her children’s schools, was able to carry her commitment to public education to the Malibu community. She served many terms on the Santa Monica-Malibu Board of Education where she advocated for the successful founding of Malibu High School. Mary Kay was also on the Malibu-Point Dume Community Services Board. In the Malibu paper, a friend wrote that “Mary Kay believed one’s interest was best served by doing the right thing rather than the convenient thing.” The Kamaths were members of the Santa Monica Meeting and attended the Conejo Friends Worship Group.

Mary Kay and Sanjiv retired to Santa Barbara, CA in 1999, transferring their membership to Santa Barbara Friends Meeting where Mary Kay was a very active member. They made their home available for many Meeting events. When Santa Barbara Meeting purchased a building which was renovated to be their Meeting House, Mary Kay and Sanjiv generously offered their home for First Days during the renovation. Mary Kay was a vital part of the Ministry and Care of Meeting committee. Even when she was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis she continued her work with the Ministry and Care committee until a month before she died. She beat the prognosis of a one year life expectancy by her strong spirit and will, her strong love for her family, and the joy she found in caring for and being with her two young grandsons. The words of the Kamath’s niece Anita speaks for all who knew her; she wrote “Mary Kay had the endearing quality of feeling joy at others’ happiness. Mary Kay represented the best of everything – intelligence, humor, kindness, love, strength, spirit, and she was the kind of person who left a lasting impression.”

Mary Kay died in August 2009 in their home in Santa Barbara, surrounded by her family. She is survived by her husband Sanjiv, their four children Tara, Shanta, Keshav, and Kathryn, granddaughter Robin, and grandsons Luke and Flynn.