BEDFORD - Katharine Lawrence died peacefully on July 30, 2014 at Carlton-Willard Village here. She was 85.

Katharine was a former teacher and was engaged in several volunteer activities during and after her career. She was born in Boston, the first child of the Rev. (later Rt. Rev.) Frederic C. Lawrence and Katharine Wylie Lawrence.

She attended Buckingham School, Cambridge, and Winsor School in Boston, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in 1951. Later she studied at the University of California at Berkeley, receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1966.

She loved teaching American and English literature and the Greek classics. She taught at Milton Academy for 13 years in four separate periods of time in both the Upper and Lower schools. At other times she taught at Lake Forest Country Day School in Illinois, the Bement School in Deerfield, and the Bishop's School in La Jolla, CA. While studying the English promotion-by-term system, she taught a term at Colet Court, St. Paul's Preparatory School in London.

Katharine enjoyed playing popular songs on the piano, usually by ear. She was talented artistically as well, keeping in touch with her many friends and relatives, often by sending them cards and letters with amusing drawings. She organized reunion events, anniversaries and birthdays and wrote poems and songs for many occasions. After retirement, she continued with her love of literature and the arts by participating in book groups, reading for the blind and volunteering at the Museum of Fine Arts. She also traveled widely throughout the U.S. and the world. She lived for many years in Milton and Arlington.

Katharine spent her childhood in Cambridge, where her father was rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, and in Brookline, where he was rector of St. Paul's Church. He later became Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts. Katharine's father and mother and sisters Julia and Marian are all deceased. She leaves a sister, Margaret L. Drinker of Wilder, VT., two brothers, Frederic C. Lawrence of Newfane, VT., and Peter W. Lawrence of Portland, ME., eight nieces and nephews and twelve great-nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at Carleton-Willard Village, 100 Old Billerica Rd., Bedford, on Saturday, September 6, at 2:00 P.M.

Interment will be at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.