Kathleen Hubbard, 76, Potsdam

POTSDAM -- Kathleen Hubbard, 76, of Potsdam, NY died peacefully on January 5, 2024, with her husband and daughter by her side at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA from complications of congestive heart failure.

Entering this world on March 11, 1947, and originally from Baldwin, NY, Kathy was born the youngest of three children to James and Catherine Boyd.

After graduating from Baldwin High School in 1965, she attended college at the Crane School of Music.

She met her future husband at a summer resort in the Catskills and married in 1968.

In 1972, she and her family settled in Potsdam where she was hired as the grade 7-12 general and choral music teacher at Madrid-Waddington Central School until her retirement in 2006.

During that time, Kathy touched the lives of countless students through her dedication, enthusiasm, and love for teaching and learning. Alumni and colleagues will recall “Stardust”, the pop/jazz choral group she founded, student-led guitar classes, and the major role she played in facilitating yearly productions of high school musicals.

She was very involved with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and served as president of the district’s organization for many years. During her time working, she attended St. Lawrence University and earned a degree in educational administration in 1994.

Driven by a desire to keep teaching after public school retirement, she was employed at the Crane School of Music as an adjunct faculty member of the music education department until 2017.

Kathy was an artist in every sense of the word and loved to learn. She fondly recalled her time singing with the Crane chorus for both the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and the Statue of Liberty re-dedication celebration in 1986.

In addition to being a pianist and music teacher, she was an avid reader, watercolorist, and sketch artist, taking courses in still-life drawing and sharing her work with family. A gifted photographer, she always had a camera at hand and a keen eye for capturing nature and people.

Kathy sought adventure, opportunities for travel, and being outdoors. From gym workouts, cycling miles on the roads of the North Country and while visiting southern Germany, to annual trips to Florida, the coast of Maine, and kayaking with her friends, she was never one to sit still.

She made her family and friends smile and laugh with her bluntness, dry sense of humor, cynicism, and uncanny inability to tell a joke. She was intelligent, curious, forward-thinking, socially justice-minded, opinionated, pragmatic, headstrong, and an amazing gardener and cook. Most memorably, she was proud of her family and the many milestones for which she was fortunate to be present.

She will forever be remembered as a wonderful wife to her husband, a best friend to her daughter, and a devoted “Lola” to her grandchildren.

Despite the multiple health issues that challenged her during the last 18 years, Kathy did not back down. To the end, she possessed a fight for life that was unparalleled, heroic, and truly remarkable.

Kathy is survived and will be greatly missed by her husband of 55 years, Shaun Hubbard, her daughter, Jennifer Kessler (Paul), and two grandsons, Gabriel and Jack Kessler. She is also survived by her sister, Ann Jones of Castine, ME, a brother, James Boyd of New York City as well as many nieces and nephews.

There will be a celebration of her life held in late spring of 2024.