Alter, Kathy Jane Weygant

Kathy Jane Weygant Alter, 64, of Rochester, Minn., formerly of Cedar Rapids and Burlington, Iowa, died Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, from complications of diabetes at St. Elizabeth's Nursing Home in Wabasha, Minn. Arrangements are being handled by Abbott Funeral Home in Wabasha. Burial of cremains will be at a later date at Aspen Grove Cemetery in Burlington.

Kathy is survived by her son, Aaron K. Alter of Des Moines; a brother, Kenneth P. Weygant of Burlington; and a very special cousin, Jean Mustain of Wabasha, Minn., and her family who cared for Kathy in the last months of her life.

She was preceded in death by her parents and ex-husband.

Kathy was born Dec. 29, 1946, in Pekin, Ill., to Kenneth H. and Esther R. (Danielson) Weygant. She married Michael Eugene Alter in Galesburg, Ill., on Sept. 22, 1972. They divorced. She graduated from Burlington High School in 1965 and from what was then Burlington Junior College. She also attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

She worked as a reporter and an editor for The Hawk Eye newspaper from 1972 to 1988 in Burlington, where she also was active in Little Theatre. She was an online editor for The Gazette in Cedar Rapids from 1998 to 2008, when she retired because of poor health.

An avid reader, she also enjoyed knitting items for friends, relatives and charitable causes.

Memorials are preferred to the American Diabetes Association.