Word has been received of the death of Kathryn Wentzel Lumley, a "board member emerita" for Pennsylvania College of Technology and a former chairman of the board of trustees for the college's immediate predecessor institution, Williamsport Area Community College.Lumley, 90, for whom the college's Lumley Aviation Center is named, died Saturday, July 19, at her home in Rauchtown.
She was a teacher, reading specialist, educational administrator, children's author and one of the founding directors of "Reading is Fundamental," the nation's largest children's literacy organization.
Among Lumley's many accomplishments was a collaboration with the late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, of "Peanuts" fame, on "Snoopy's Secret Code Book," published in 1971.
Beginning her service to the college in 1978 as a director on the W.A.C.C. board, Lumley became vice chairman in 1984-85 and chairman in 1985-86.
She continued serving the institution as a member of the board of directors when the college became affiliated with The Pennsylvania State University in 1989. She served the college during such milestone events as the dissolution of the school-district sponsorship, the transfer to city sponsorship and the creation of Penn College as a special mission affiliate of Penn State.
She retired from the Penn College board in April 2002 and was granted board member emerita status in June of that year.