10/03/2025
It's a sad day for our community. Thoughts and prayers go up for the Dooley family. 💔
We are deeply saddened by the loss of Katherine “Kitty” Dooley, a true West Virginia Wonder Woman whose life embodied courage, service, and grace. I hold in my heart a vivid memory of what Kitty Dooley came to mean—to me, and to the YWCA of Charleston.
To me, Kitty was a guiding light. Her integrity, her resolve, her generosity of spirit—those were the things I saw in her, and the things I aspire to emulate. When I think of her, I see a person who never shied from hard work, who listened when others spoke, who pushed forward toward justice even when the path was steep.
To the YWCA and everyone connected to this institution, Kitty’s name now marks more than a building; it anchors her ideals in a space where women find support, where growth is nurtured, and where community is built. It is fitting that her name graces a place dedicated to empowerment, because that was her life’s mission.
We mourn deeply today. But in our sorrow is also gratitude—gratitude for her presence, her work, her vision. Though Kitty has passed, the name above the doors of the YWCA reminds us that her spirit remains here among us. But beyond her accomplishments, Kitty will be remembered for her warmth, her fierce dedication, her vision, and her belief in the power of community to heal and to uplift.
To her family, to all who knew her, and to the many she inspired — we extend our deepest sympathy. Though she is gone, her spirit lives on in the institutions she strengthened, in the people she empowered, and in the hope she carried. May her memory continue to inspire us to serve, to uplift, and to carry forward the work she began.
-Sonya Hairston
CEO, YWCA Charleston
