Harriet 'Kitty' Katz Berger

Harriet Berger, known to friends and family as Kitty, died peacefully on August 13, 2024. The only child of Charles and Dorothy (Nusinoff) Katz, she was born in Springfield, MA in 1931. As a girl and young woman, she overcame the twin challenges of The Great Depression and early childhood illness to gain a scholarship to American International College. She graduated in 1952 with a degree in teaching, then taught first grade, spending most of her career at Indian Orchard Elementary. Just before graduation, she met her loving husband of 67 years, Jason (Jay). They were married in 1954 and raised three children. After retirement, she volunteered at the Zoo in Forest Park, where she created and ran the Zoo on the Go program, bringing small zoo animals to local schools to enhance science education.

Kitty loved nature and camping, opera, and theater, and was politically active in Agawam, MA, where she and Jay moved after retirement. She participated in many senior theater productions in Agawam and in Langhorne, PA where she moved after Jay's passing.

She was pre-deceased by Jay in 2018. She is survived by daughter Cynthia (Bill Carlsen), sons Scott (Janice) and Joe (Valerie), grandchildren Anna (Pete) Roth, Ben (Bee-Seon Keum) Carlsen, Margot (Kevin) Pagano, Ally (Fred Dvorsky) Berger, Emma (Blair) Sheade, and Amelia Berger, and great-grandchildren Jacob, Sonia, Adler, and Colbie.

Donations in Kitty’s memory can be made to the Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation, the Zoo in Forest Park (Springfield, MA), or the environmental charity of your choice. She would also be pleased with whatever you could do to help defeat Donald Trump.

A graveside funeral service will be held Friday August 16 at 2:00 PM at Sinai Memorial Park, Springfield, MA. A memorial service will be held on Sunday August 18 at Adath Israel Congregation, Lawrenceville, NJ at 11 AM.