Kathryn Ann Wise of Lexington, Virginia, died on Monday, February 3, 2014.

She was 64 years old.

She was born in London, England, on August 27, 1949, the daughter of the late Helen Giddings Wise of Lexington and the late Capt. Allen Pitchford Kauffman, USN (Ret), of Punta Gorda Isles, Florida.

She was the stepdaughter of the late Gene Wise, Ph.D., of Lexington, who taught chemistry at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) from 1950 to 1986.

She spent her childhood in Naples, Italy; Monterey, California, and Beirut, Lebanon, where her father was the assistant Naval attache' at the American Embassy in the late 1950s. She attended 2nd and 3rd grades at the American Community School in Beirut, and as a child she was fluent in both Arabic and Italian.

Following her return to the United States, she attended school in Bethesda, Maryland, before moving to Lexington in 1964, when her mother married Gene Wise, who was a professor in the VMI chemistry department.

She graduated from Lexington High School in 1967, from Southern Seminary and Junior College in 1969, and from Lynchburg College in 1971. While at Southern Seminary, where she was a day student and earned an associate degree in art, she was named to Phi Theta Kappa (the national junior college honor society), Who's Who in American Junior Colleges and the Dean's List, and served as co-editor of the school yearbook.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art from Lynchburg College, where she was nominated for Phi Beta Kappa.

She worked from June 1971 until July 1972 as an exhibits specialist at the VMI Museum, where she had worked in the summers during college. In July 1972 she joined The VMI Alumni Association Inc. as Assistant Editor of the VMI Alumni Review. She was named the magazine's Associate Editor in 1986 and Editor in 1990. In August 1999 she was one of the first two employees to receive an award from the VMI Alumni Agencies Appreciation Fund, which was established by Kay and Skip Roberts '67 to recognize employees who provide exemplary work and service for both alumni and VMI.

In 2004 she was named a Vice President of The VMI Alumni Association, and in the summer of 2007 she was named Vice President and Senior Editor.

Among her accomplishments while serving as Editor of the Alumni Review, she was most proud of having begun in 1991 and maintained a list of alumni participation in the Gulf War, by class, in both Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Prior to that, VMI had not kept records of alumni participation in wars since World War II.

In 2003 she began and subsequently maintained a list of alumni participation in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

She was also proud of the pictures she took on reunion weekends and on other occasions of alumni, whom she considered to be the world's best subject matter because of the character and wisdom in their faces, and of the color photographs which often graced the magazine's front cover.

Also during her tenure as editor, the Alumni Review was first perfect bound beginning in 1986. In 2001, she initiated limited use of interior color in the magazine, and by 2003 the conversion to full-color interior photography was complete.

In the 1970s she was a volunteer place judge at VMI track meets. In the late 1960s she was a volunteer with the Rockbridge Christmas Basket Program, which her stepfather chaired or co-chaired for over 32 years.

She was a former member of the Colonial Dames XVII Century; a former member of the Lexington Highway Safety Commission; a former member and one-term director of the Lexington Branch of the English-Speaking Union; and a former member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

She was a longtime gardener.

At the time of her retirement from the VMI Alumni Association in April 2010, she was presented with the Meritorious Service Award and a resolution from VMI, signed by the Superintendent and the President of the VMI Board of Visitors, and a resolution from the VMI Alumni Association.

She is survived by her sister, Jennifer Carol Wise, of Lexington; and her special friends, Susan Trettel, whom she had known since childhood, and Joseph Trettel of Rockville, Md., and their children, Ian and Marisa.

A memorial service to be announced at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in memory of Kathryn Ann Wise to The American Diabetes Association, The English Speaking Union (Lexington, Va.), or The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Arrangements by Harrison Funeral Home & Crematory, Lexington, Va., 540-463-2912.