Catawba College trustee and benefactor, Katharine Weisiger Osborne, of Salisbury died April 3.

A graduate of Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Va., she earned her bachelor's degree in sociology and religion. She taught at high schools in Mt. Ulla and Huntersville for several years after her graduation and then worked for two years at the National Security Agency. A voracious reader and a prolific writer, she was a regular guest columnist for "The Salisbury Post," a published poet, a collector of art and a supporter of many groups and organizations involved in artistic and education activities and programs. She was a supporter of Catawba College, including its Center for the Environment, various symposia and literary events and the former Hobbie Center for Values and Ethics. She has also provided for scholarship assistance through her estate. She was elected to the Catawba College Board of Trustees in 1992 and served as a member of the Student Affairs Committee.

She supported the Rowan Public Library and its Foundation, served as a trustee of Rowan Museum, was a hospice volunteer, treasurer for many years of the Rowan Art Guild, and was a Girl Scout leader when her daughters were young. She sponsored the Celebrating Women In History Program at Livingstone College, which benefited the United Negro College Fund, and also served at one time on the Livingstone College Advancement Council. She was a sponsor and presenter at the Central Piedmont Community College Literary Festival in Charlotte. One of her favorite organizations was the Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury.

She was a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Salisbury, having served as a member of the Vestry, the Altar Guild, and was the first elected woman trustee of the St. Luke's Episcopal Church Foundation. For the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, she had been a member of the Women's Issues Committee.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Osborne whom she married in 1952. Survivors include her three children, Katharine Osborne Spirtes of East Moriches, N.Y., Jeanne Osborne Wurster of Gainesville, Fla., and Robert Victor Osborne, Jr. of Chapel Hill, N.C.; a brother and four grandchildren.