‘She breathed life and love into everything’: Popular music teacher mourned in Smithfield

SMITHFIELD – The town bade farewell this week to a teacher whom Superintendent Dawn Bartz described as “a presence” in the schools and in the community at large.

Katherine Young, 37, a music and theater teacher, died Dec. 30 after a brief, sudden illness that published reports have described as complications from influenza.

Young started as a part-time high school music teacher 10 years ago.

“She went beyond just what her job was,” Bartz said Wednesday, the day of Young’s funeral. That extended to adding more duties to her position.

“She really advocated and built it into a full-time position,” Bartz said. Not only did Young teach theater and music at the high school, she also lent a hand in the middle school drama program and worked with music teachers at the elementary schools, reaching students of all ages.

“Her fierce and passionate dedication to the SHS community will never be forgotten,” the high school’s music boosters club posted on Facebook when announcing Young’s death. “Her smile shone brightly. May her legacy live on through the lives of those she has touched.”

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Among her duties, Young oversaw the fall and winter concerts at the high school and its spring musical. On the last Friday before the school’s December break, Young presided over the winter concert with the same energy she brought to all aspects of her job, Bartz said.

But, two weeks later, she died.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Bartz. “She was too vibrant, too alive, too energetic.”

The spring musical, “The Addams Family,” will be held in April this year instead of its customary March, with students playing the roles Young had selected for them before the break.

“She was dedicated to her students, not only as a teacher, but also as a mentor and advocate who provided support to anyone who needed it,” said an obituary prepared by her family. “She breathed life and love into everything in which she was involved.”

“Where she was was always a joyful place where kids wanted to be,” said Bartz. “You couldn’t help smiling when you were around Katherine.”

Young was popular with students, including at school pep rallies. “She always got the loudest cheers,” the superintendent said. “She was never afraid to be herself. She didn’t care if she came across goofy, silly, serious. She was authentic.”

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The boosters club closed its Facebook post: “Thank you, Katherine, for making our world a better place.”

Young, who lived in Greenville, was born in Providence, the daughter of Stephen C. and Cheryl A. (Mulcahey) Olszewski. She was the partner of Richard “Ricky” E. Young and the granddaughter of Dora and the late Daniel Mulcahey and the late Theodore and Olga Olszewski. She was the mother of Remy and Ramona Young and sister of Christina Wolf, of Providence.

A graduate of Coventry High School, Young held a bachelor’s degree in music education from Gordon College and a master’s in education from the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York.