Kathryn (Katy) M. Benoit, 22, Moscow

Kathryn Marguerite Benoit, our beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece and friend, was born in Boise on a beautiful spring day, April 24, 1989. She left her life on Earth Aug. 22, 2011, in Moscow.

As her extensive and incredibly eclectic range of friends show, Katy had an amazing gift for connecting with people. Katy was innately kind, smart and fun. She had a passion for learning about others and bringing out the best in herself and those close to her. She always relished her spiritual journey.

Katy attended Longfellow Elementary and North Junior High. She enjoyed a wide range of activities, including soccer, 4-H, Girl Scouts and Bogus Basin Ski Team. Her signature passion and gift was her music.

Katy's musical life began as a preschooler in her aunt Kristin's Musical Kids class. Piano lessons quickly followed. At age 5, Katy began playing the fiddle. She placed fifth in the Weiser National Fiddle Contest at age 9. When Katy was 11, her focus shifted to the cello - the instrument she was born to play. Katy studied cello music for many years under Dr. Bill Wharton and was a valued member of the highly acclaimed Boise High Chamber Orchestra. She loved playing in concerts and traveling on orchestra trips, the highlight being a European tour with the Chamber Orchestra in the summer of 2005. Katy's family and closest friends will always remember her beautiful senior recital in the spring of 2007.

Katy attended Boise High School and graduated in 2007. She spent a semester at Boise State before enrolling at the University of Idaho. Moscow quickly became Katy's second home. She discovered a second passion in the subject of psychology and continued to find new ways to challenge herself in personal growth.

In the warmer months at Moscow, Katy loved the early morning sunrises, hikes on Moscow Mountain and driving the country roads of the Palouse. In the colder months, she loved attending football games, spending extra time with her Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sisters, working with the music department and, occasionally, griping about icy streets during her cherished calls to family back home.

In recent years, Katy developed a fondness for dancing - anywhere, anytime, Thai and Mexican food - of the spiciest variety, baking cookies, traveling - family trips were a hallmark of her life, and she spent her '09 spring semester studying in Spain, attending Breakfast Club with friends and generally doing whatever she could to march to the beat of her own drum - a skill she actually started honing around age 3 or 4.

Katy graduated from Idaho in December 2010 with a major in psychology and a minor in music. She began graduate school at Idaho in August 2011. Her last weeks as a physical being on Earth were filled with excitement and anticipation for her new role as a teacher's assistant, where she would be teaching undergraduate classes in social psychology and developmental psychology.

Katy was a recipient of the Bronze, Silver and, just this past year, Gold Congressional Awards, which are given by Congress to outstanding young Americans with high achievement in volunteer public service, physical fitness and personal development.

Katy leaves behind her parents, Gary and Janet; her brother, Andy; her son, Caleb, and his loving parents Sarah and Jonathan; her grandparents, Alice Benoit of Meridian, and Gerald and Lorene Guentz of Nampa; aunt, Cindy Benoit and uncle, Ken Benoit; cousins, David, Cristen and Ryan; aunt, Kristin Sample; cousins, Suzanne, Rosie and Russell; aunt, Karen Fleming and uncle, Bob Fleming; cousins, Travis and Trent; along with many treasured friends.

A celebration of life will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Idaho Administration Building Auditorium.

In lieu of flowers, Katy's sorority sisters have established the Katy Benoit Scholarship Fund, to be made at any Wells Fargo Bank branch or mailed to Wells Fargo, 1570 N. Snead Ave., Eagle, ID 83616. Katy's family has set up the Katy Benoit Memorial Fund and memorial contributions may be made in Katy's honor to any Bank of the West branch or mailed to Bank of the West, 827 W. Idaho St., Boise, ID 83702

Local arrangements have been entrusted to Short's Funeral Chapel of Moscow and online condolences may be sent to www.shorts

funeralchapel.net.