The following excerpt is from an extensive article about a memorial service held for the late Napa Valley historian, Kathy Kernberger.
At a Sunday memorial in the Fireside Room at St. Helena’s Seventh-day Adventist Church, Kathleen (Kathy)
Kernberger, who succumbed to a lengthy illness late last year, took her place in Napa Valley history.
Well, that’s not quite accurate, because for a good many of her 58 years, Kernberger was already a part of local history — a very active part, as just about everyone in the wall-to-wall throng at Kernberger’s Fireside Room memorial understood. She was the quintessential historian. A founding board member of the fledgling St. Helena Historical Society in 2002. The co-author (with her husband, Dave) of a definitive historical picture book on the region. A first-rate researcher, collector, interpreter and writer of Valley history.
…
One of the people, Betty Studebaker, Kernberger’s fellow St. Helena Historical Society board member, quietly lamented how she was going to miss her as a resource for historical research.
“She wrote numerous articles for the society’s newsletter and newspapers,” Studebaker said, “and was always up to the challenge of writing another one.”
Read the full article, published in the February 12, 2009 edition of the St. Helena Star, about the memorial service held for Kathy Kernberger.
The following is excerpted from Kathy’s obituary (From the January 11, 2009 Napa Valley Register):
ST. HELENA – Longtime St. Helena resident and noted Napa County historian, Kathleen (Kathy) Kernberger, passed away Dec. 19, 2008, at St. Helena Hospital, after a long illness….
Besides teaching, Kathy’s main interests were Napa County historical research, collection and identification of old Napa County photographs, and making informative presentations of this history and these fascinating old photos. She also wrote several series of historical articles for various county newspapers. She and husband Dave wrote and published a historical photo book, “Mark Strong’s Napa Valley,” in 1978. She was a founding member of the St. Helena Historical Society in 2002. While growing up, she was very close to her aunt, Virginia Hanrahan, also a noted local historian in her time and a librarian at both the Veterans Home and the Napa County Library on Pearl Street, in Napa. Some of Virginia’s interests and abilities rubbed off on young Kathy. Kathy always claimed that history was only boring if it was just about dates. It became a fascinating subject, she believed, as soon as a person would begin to discover details of the lives of the people being studied.
Read the full obituary in the January 11, 2009 edition of the Napa Valley Register.
Click here to see a Letter to the Editor, printed in the February 5, 2009 edition of the St. Helena Star about the late Kathy Kernberger.