Kathy Brodland (nee Howard) passed away on the evening of Sunday, April 13, 2025.
She is survived by her wife Bren L Brodland, her brother Gord Henwood and various
other family and friends.
Kathy was an 86-year-old retiree living in Drumheller, Alberta with her wife Bren and
their 5-yr old rescue yorkie named Jackie. Kathy was a vivacious, funny extrovert. She
was bubbly and full of joy. Her kindness knew no bounds. She was passionate about
many things: gardening, travelling, all animals but especially dogs. She loved to sit in
her recliner and watch the birds, rabbits, squirrels, mule-deer, and any other animal who
wandered their yard. She could spend hours watching.
Career-wise she described herself as a ‘jack-of-all-trades and master of none.’ Over the
years she has worked as an office clerk, nurse’s aide, health care worker and for a while,
she owned her own residential and commercial cleaning company. In between careers,
she wrote several sci-fi novels and short stories, none of which she attempted to
publish. Kathy’s largest dream was to be a published writer.
It wasn’t until her wife read the first draft of a new novel ten years ago and introduced
her to lesbian fiction that she felt brave enough to consider seeing if she was good
enough to make her life’s dream come true and be published. In 2016, at the age of 78,
Ylva published a short story, “An Orphan’s Christmas”, in their anthology, Looking for
Ms. Write. Next, she published her debut novel, “An Unfortunate Incident”, in 2019.
Another short story “Closure” was published in Lady Grim 2021: A Halloween
Anthology. She added a novella, “Payback' s a Bitch” in 2023. Last year, she published
“Maggie”, a second full length novel. She was very proud when all her published work
was available on Amazon under KT Brodland. Two days before she died, she was
working on the final edit of her most recent work. She had hoped to publish it in
September of 2025.
Kathy requests donations to ‘animal rescue no-kill shelters’ in lieu of flowers. Her
favourite three were LAPS (Langley Animal Protection Society), in Langley BC, ARTS
(Alberta Rescue Transfer Society) in Edmonton, AB, and Heaven Can Wait in High
River, AB.
A celebration of Kathy’s life will be held in Drumheller, AB at a date, place, and time
TBA.
As per the family's request no trees or flowers please, thank you.