Katharine ‘Kay’ Kidde Of Quiogue Dies November 12

Katharine “Kay” Kidde of Quiogue died on November 12 at the Westhampton Care Center. She was 90.

She was born to John Kidde and Katharine Lyon of Glen Ridge, New Jersey on August 30, 1930. From infancy, Kay spent blissful summers on Quiogue where her grandfather, the Reverend Frederick Carter, had established a summer residence and preached at the Church of the Atonement in Quogue.

She attended Chatham Hall in Virginia and graduated from Vassar College, where she majored in creative writing.

Ms. Kidde founded Kidde, Hoyt and Picard Literary Agency in New York City. She was a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives and was a senior editor at New American Library and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. She served on the boards of the Quiogue Association of Long Island and the Peconic Community Council.

She was a gifted and prolific poet and was listed in Poets and Writers. She co-authored a book on mental health entitled “Speaking Out.” Several of her books of poems were published: “Home Light: Along the Shore” in 1994; “Sounding for Light” in 1998” and “Early Sky New and Collected Poems” in 2002. In 2007, Ms. Kidde was awarded the East End Arts Council Poetry prize.

In 2002, she founded the Peconic Housing Initiative, now known as Maureen’s Haven, to empower as many homeless people as possible on the East End to lead lives of independence and dignity. To enable those in need to have access to supportive services, Maureen’s Haven opened the Kay Kidde Achievement Center in Riverhead in 2012.

Ms. Kidde was an avid tennis player and sailor. Of her love of the sea, she wrote, “I was almost born inside the sea:/I must swim through the filtering light.”

She was predeceased by her brother John L. Kidde. She is survived by her partner Mary Brennan; her sister-in-law Ruth Kidde; her niece Roxana Rumney; and her nephews Wilson, Andrew, Geoffrey, Jonathan, Jeremy and Jason.

A celebration of her life will be scheduled at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to Maureen’s Haven Homeless Outreach, 28 Lincoln Street, Riverhead, NY 11901.