The Inspiring Legacy of Kathy Watkinson Ivins '73
Soon after Kathy Watkinson began dating John Ivins back in 1983, she invited him to watch her play in a co-ed soccer league game at Pine Camp on Richmond’s North Side.
About the time Ivins arrived, he witnessed a scene which would typify his future bride’s competitive zeal and uncommon resolve and which he’s remembered with amazement and admiration ever since.
“Somebody hit a long ball toward the middle of the field,” Ivins related one morning recently, “and I saw Kathy and a guy both going for it.
“They launched themselves into the air at the same time and collided. Their heads hit. They both landed on the ground, and she’s lying there motionless.
“Eventually they got up. They were both OK, but she came off the field with a huge welt on the side of her head.”
Little could Ivins imagine that day that he would see that same tenacity, spirit, dogged determination, and courage many, many times over the years or that Kathy’s indefatigable approach to life would sustain her and countless others even in the most trying circumstances.
About the time Ivins arrived, he witnessed a scene which would typify his future bride’s competitive zeal and uncommon resolve and which he’s remembered with amazement and admiration ever since.
“Somebody hit a long ball toward the middle of the field,” Ivins related one morning recently, “and I saw Kathy and a guy both going for it.
“They launched themselves into the air at the same time and collided. Their heads hit. They both landed on the ground, and she’s lying there motionless.
“Eventually they got up. They were both OK, but she came off the field with a huge welt on the side of her head.”
Little could Ivins imagine that day that he would see that same tenacity, spirit, dogged determination, and courage many, many times over the years or that Kathy’s indefatigable approach to life would sustain her and countless others even in the most trying circumstances.
Kathy Watkinson Ivins, Collegiate class of 1973, played many roles.
She was a wife (she and John married February 2, 1985), mother (Jack ‘05 and Jim ‘07), businesswoman (senior vice-president of Thalhimer Commercial Real Estate), and community leader who ably served on a host of boards.
She was an athlete and healthful-lifestyle advocate who truly practiced what she preached.
She was also a warrior in the noblest sense of the word, for she refused to capitulate to the cancer that was diagnosed in the summer of 2007 and battled it valiantly and without complaint until she passed away July 22, 2010.
At 6:30 p.m. today, the Sports Performance Center at the Robins Campus will be dedicated in her honor and memory.
“Kathy always credited Collegiate with shaping her life and giving her opportunities to excel,” Ivins said.
“This (memorial) seemed to connect two of her passions: Collegiate and fitness.”
Kathy was an athlete at Collegiate and Salem College and later became involved with the Seal Team physical training group.
Then, after years of running shorter races, she joined the Sports Backers marathon training program and completed the 2005 Richmond Marathon to commemorate her 50th birthday.
“Sports Backers has a formula where, if you can run three miles in April, you can run a marathon in November,” explained Ivins, an attorney with Hirschler Fleischer.
“Kathy was very disciplined. They gave her a book. She did everything the book told her to do. She ran a 10-minute pace. Did great.”
She finished two more marathons: Richmond in 2006 and Marine Corps in 2008.
She trained for the Richmond race in 2007 and 2009, but complications of the malignant melanoma scuttled her plans.
Covering 26 miles, 385 yards on foot in a single outing is an enormous accomplishment, but it pales in comparison with the physical and emotional investment she expended to fight the cancer which metastasized to her brain and ultimately required eight operations and multiple rounds of chemotherapy.
She never backed down. Indeed, she attacked each treatment and rehabilitation session as if it were a competition.
“After the first surgery, she began losing capacity in her legs and arms, so they did emergency surgery to relieve the pressure caused by one of the tumors,” Ivins recalled.
“They put her in a rehab facility at Johnston-Willis. In five weeks, she regained her ability to walk independently.
“She had to retrain her muscles to remember how to walk again.
“It was an incredibly arduous process.”
In the midst of that stretch, she underwent a second emergency craniotomy because of another tumor that was affecting her cognition and speech.
“She was back in rehab after two-and-a-half days,” Ivins continued.
“She was so determined. The physical rehab people at Johnston-Willis loved her.”
All along, Kathy’s plan was to attend her son Jack’s graduation at James Madison in May 2010, but the Wednesday before, she underwent yet another emergency procedure to drain a tumor that was affecting her mobility.
Her doctor discharged her Friday, and the next morning she was in Harrisonburg for the festivities, looking and acting as if she’d never been in the hospital.
So how, I asked John, did Kathy deal with one crisis after another without becoming jaded or asking “why me?"
“I’m sure there were times,” he responded. “You can’t help but ask the question, but Kathy focused on moving forward.
“Our faith is very strong, and we were surrounded by many, many people who helped relieve some of the burden.”
He paused for a moment.
“Even toward the end,” he continued, “even when doctors were saying, ‘You know, we’re running out of options, and you should think about hospice care,’ she said, ‘Forget it. Not interested. That’s like running out the clock. I’m using every ounce of my strength to figure a way to beat this.’
“That’s literally how it went. She never acknowledged that this wasn’t going to work out.”
Kathy’s story, I said, is incredible powerful and inspiring.
“People in the community know her for her success in athletics,” he replied, “but she was just a regular person who found that if you train and work, you can achieve great results.
“Kathy ran marathons, but there’d be a gazillion people faster. Winning wasn’t what it was all about.
“Everyone who comes into the fitness room won’t win the race.
“Her example will hopefully encourage people to do their best.”
-- Weldon Bradshaw
(The Kathy Watkinson Ivins '73 Sports Performance Center is one of three facilities to be dedicated today at the Robins Campus. The others are the Williams-Bollettieri Tennis Center (noon) and the McDonald Soccer Complex and field to be named for Coach Charlie Blair upon his retirement (3:30 p.m.)
Back
She was a wife (she and John married February 2, 1985), mother (Jack ‘05 and Jim ‘07), businesswoman (senior vice-president of Thalhimer Commercial Real Estate), and community leader who ably served on a host of boards.
She was an athlete and healthful-lifestyle advocate who truly practiced what she preached.
She was also a warrior in the noblest sense of the word, for she refused to capitulate to the cancer that was diagnosed in the summer of 2007 and battled it valiantly and without complaint until she passed away July 22, 2010.
At 6:30 p.m. today, the Sports Performance Center at the Robins Campus will be dedicated in her honor and memory.
“Kathy always credited Collegiate with shaping her life and giving her opportunities to excel,” Ivins said.
“This (memorial) seemed to connect two of her passions: Collegiate and fitness.”
Kathy was an athlete at Collegiate and Salem College and later became involved with the Seal Team physical training group.
Then, after years of running shorter races, she joined the Sports Backers marathon training program and completed the 2005 Richmond Marathon to commemorate her 50th birthday.
“Sports Backers has a formula where, if you can run three miles in April, you can run a marathon in November,” explained Ivins, an attorney with Hirschler Fleischer.
“Kathy was very disciplined. They gave her a book. She did everything the book told her to do. She ran a 10-minute pace. Did great.”
She finished two more marathons: Richmond in 2006 and Marine Corps in 2008.
She trained for the Richmond race in 2007 and 2009, but complications of the malignant melanoma scuttled her plans.
Covering 26 miles, 385 yards on foot in a single outing is an enormous accomplishment, but it pales in comparison with the physical and emotional investment she expended to fight the cancer which metastasized to her brain and ultimately required eight operations and multiple rounds of chemotherapy.
She never backed down. Indeed, she attacked each treatment and rehabilitation session as if it were a competition.
“After the first surgery, she began losing capacity in her legs and arms, so they did emergency surgery to relieve the pressure caused by one of the tumors,” Ivins recalled.
“They put her in a rehab facility at Johnston-Willis. In five weeks, she regained her ability to walk independently.
“She had to retrain her muscles to remember how to walk again.
“It was an incredibly arduous process.”
In the midst of that stretch, she underwent a second emergency craniotomy because of another tumor that was affecting her cognition and speech.
“She was back in rehab after two-and-a-half days,” Ivins continued.
“She was so determined. The physical rehab people at Johnston-Willis loved her.”
All along, Kathy’s plan was to attend her son Jack’s graduation at James Madison in May 2010, but the Wednesday before, she underwent yet another emergency procedure to drain a tumor that was affecting her mobility.
Her doctor discharged her Friday, and the next morning she was in Harrisonburg for the festivities, looking and acting as if she’d never been in the hospital.
So how, I asked John, did Kathy deal with one crisis after another without becoming jaded or asking “why me?"
“I’m sure there were times,” he responded. “You can’t help but ask the question, but Kathy focused on moving forward.
“Our faith is very strong, and we were surrounded by many, many people who helped relieve some of the burden.”
He paused for a moment.
“Even toward the end,” he continued, “even when doctors were saying, ‘You know, we’re running out of options, and you should think about hospice care,’ she said, ‘Forget it. Not interested. That’s like running out the clock. I’m using every ounce of my strength to figure a way to beat this.’
“That’s literally how it went. She never acknowledged that this wasn’t going to work out.”
Kathy’s story, I said, is incredible powerful and inspiring.
“People in the community know her for her success in athletics,” he replied, “but she was just a regular person who found that if you train and work, you can achieve great results.
“Kathy ran marathons, but there’d be a gazillion people faster. Winning wasn’t what it was all about.
“Everyone who comes into the fitness room won’t win the race.
“Her example will hopefully encourage people to do their best.”
-- Weldon Bradshaw
(The Kathy Watkinson Ivins '73 Sports Performance Center is one of three facilities to be dedicated today at the Robins Campus. The others are the Williams-Bollettieri Tennis Center (noon) and the McDonald Soccer Complex and field to be named for Coach Charlie Blair upon his retirement (3:30 p.m.)
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