Katherine "Katie" Snow Fields

Katherine (Katie) Snow Smith Fields of Los Altos, CA passed away from metastatic breast cancer at the age of 56 at the Palo Alto home of her parents, Boyd and Jill Smith, on January 9, 2021.

A Bay Area Native, Katie was born on January 27, 1964. She attended Nixon Elementary School and Palo Alto Schools, graduating from Paly High School in 1982. She then attended Stanford University where she double majored in English and Human Biology, graduating in 1988. After a few years working in Human Relations at a local Bay Area Company, she and her former husband, Roger Allen Fields, had their first child, Parker, and after his birth Katie devoted the rest of her life to raising, serving and loving their four children: Parker, Elizabeth, Wilson, and Cache.

Katie lived a valiant and inspirational life. She was known for her compassionate and generous heart, keen mind, articulate manner of speaking, ingenious ability to problem solve, great wisdom, deep friendships, gifted teaching, and her unswerving commitment to God and her family.

Katie was deeply religious and a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She lived with conviction the two great commandments. She loved God with her whole heart, soul and mind and loved her neighbor as herself. She had the ability to sift out the unimportant and focus on things of lasting significance. This was evident in the purposeful way she decorated her home, the way she spent her time, how she chose her words and the manner in which she lived and interacted with others. As her son Cache said, “It was always clear what she stood for. She was a follower of Jesus Christ and nothing short of it.”

Throughout her life she served in her church and the last decade of her life, she oversaw the organization of the teenage girls in her congregation and then the extended Los Altos Region which encompassed eight congregations. In this role, she spent countless hours teaching, planning, encouraging, listening to and mentoring hundreds of young girls. In a tribute to her, one of these young women wrote, “the positivity, kindness, intelligence, and love she brought to every conversation is a hallmark of who she is and the lives she changed. I will never be the same because I knew her. I have become closer to my Savior because of her example.”

From 2014 she was the Executive Director of the California Family Foundation where she served as a mentor for first generation college students, the Housing Coordinator for the Foundation’s low-income housing program, as well as in the Foundation’s education outreach through Beechwood School, a member of the Parent Education Committee and the new Family Resource Center Coordinator. She served with great energy and enthusiasm and loved making connections with community members and helping them find resources for the problems they faced whether it was family relations, financial management, immigration status, employment, health care or legal issues. She served in all these capacities with a ready ear, willing hands and infectious enthusiasm.

But Katie’s greatest and most impactful service was done within her family. She is survived by her parents, Boyd and Jill Smith, who served her and whom she served with great devotion. She is also survived by her four children, Parker Samuel Fields, Elizabeth Christena Fields, Wilson Gabriel Fields, and Cache Johnson Fields; her two daughters in-law, Megan Richardson Fields and Lauryn Walker Fields; and her three grandchildren, Hudson Samuel Fields, Blair Elizabeth Fields, and Remi Jean Fields, who she loved and adored; her four siblings and their spouses, Christena Smith Larney (Brian), Charlotte Smith Jessop (Tad), Boyd Carpenter Smith (Hilary), and Lund Johnson Smith (Jenn), who feel so blessed to have her as their sister and exemplar, and her sixteen nieces and nephews with whom she nurtured personal and significant relationships. Katie’s absence is felt acutely by each one of us, but her memory brings us joy and pride in a life well lived and we are blessed to know that our family bounds transcend this earth.

In memory of her many acts of kindness and generosity that people saw, and the quiet acts that went largely unseen, her family invites all to contribute in Katie’s name to BYU-Pathway Worldwide, a non-profit that provides access to quality higher education throughout the world within a spiritually based environment.

In addition, we hope to follow Katie’s example (and encourage others to do the same) of giving a little unsolicited money or time to someone who could use the help.

Graveside services will be held in the Wellsville City Cemetery at 1:00 pm on Monday, January 18, 2021 with a viewing from 11:30 - 12:30 at the Allen-Hall Mortuary, 34 East Center, Logan. Condolences and memories may be shared online at www.allenmortuaries.com