In life, Katharine “Kit” Kirkpatrick was an avid community member, an adventurer, and a dedicated volunteer. Her commitment to adventure continued after her 2016 death with a gift of $141,826 from the Katharine M. Kirkpatrick 2002 Trust to the Orono Boardwalk Campaign Fund that was officially announced recently at the University of Maine Foundation.

Kit’s generous donation will provide 97 new boardwalk sections, including two interpretive stations and two wheelchair turnouts, to replace sections with new, longer lasting materials. In October 2017, volunteers will remove old sections and install new ones, bringing increased longevity of about 30 years to the boardwalk.

The Orono Bog Boardwalk Reconstruction Campaign started in 2010 with a goal to raise the funds necessary to replace the entire, wooden boardwalk with composite decking, stainless steel footings, and aluminum sidings. After the sections from Kit’s donation are installed, only 114 will be left to be replaced at a cost of $226,148. Fundraising efforts are ongoing. Boardwalk volunteers are committed to raising the funds to complete the boardwalk reconstruction project by the end of 2018.

“Kit died August 25, 2016, after 74 years of an active life, learning, loving, doing for others and fighting for those things in which she believed,” Asaid her father, Thomas Mumford, Her illness was mercifully short and she was not alone in death as family members watched over her.”