Katharine Calhoun Wood, 76, of Savannah, died peacefully at home on October 3, 2026 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She passed surrounded by her husband and children.

Kathy was preceded in death by her parents, Lawton and Mary Anne Calhoun, and her older brother, Lawton. Kathy is survived by her husband of 37 years, Frank Wood, their daughter Katie, their son Andrew (Hollyn), her sisters Mary Anne Farmer (Tom) and Lilla Costello, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins whom she adored.

Kathy was born in Savannah and attended Savannah Country Day School through the ninth grade. She graduated from St. Timothy’s School in Stevenson, Maryland in 1968. She spent a year at Vanderbilt University in the Engineering School but found great happiness after transferring to Hollins College. Graduating from Hollins in 1972, she returned to Savannah where she worked diligently in the successful campaign of Ronald “Bo” Ginn for Congress. Moving to Washington D.C., she worked on Ginn’s staff until he left Congress, then with the General Services Administration and the House Budget Committee. In 1982 she became Congressman Andy Ireland’s Chief of Staff, then one of the few women to hold that position among 435 Congressional offices. The team she selected and hired named themselves the “I Team” and managed Ireland’s legislative, committee and constituent-relations requirements as well as four successful reelection campaigns and the campaign for his successor, Congressman Dan Miller. It was in the D.C. area that she met and in 1989 married her husband Frank, who worked for the US Coast Guard in regulatory implementation, program planning and strategic risk management.

Kathy and Frank raised their two children, Katie (31) and Andrew (33), while managing active and fulfilling careers. Kathy navigated both the expected challenges of parenthood and the extraordinary circumstances which she and Frank faced with strength, dignity, and grace.

Her most fulfilling professional role was serving as the Chief Operating Officer of Hurt, Norton & Associates, a DC lobbying firm she co-founded in 1997 with Bob Hurt, her friend and colleague from Bo Ginn’s original staff, and Colonel Frank Norton (US Army-ret). Kathy continued her relationship with the firm for several years after she and Frank moved back to Savannah in 2017.

Kathy was blessed with a wide circle of friends that included her Country Day School friends from Savannah, her classmates at St. Timothy’s and Hollins, the many friends she made during her career years in DC, and a wonderful community she and Frank built upon returning to Savannah. Kathy was the glue that bound her communities together; a fast friend who naturally drew people’s love and admiration. She was well known for her great sense of humor, her love of hearing and telling a good story, and most importantly, her loyalty and integrity. Her family and friends will always be heartened by her enduring strength and love.

Funeral services will be held at Christ Church Episcopal, 28 Bull Street, at eleven o’clock on Saturday, October 17, 2026. Burial will be at a future date in Bonaventure Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Second Harvest Food Bank of Coastal Georgia (helpendhunger.org) or to your favorite charity.