Kathleen V. (Michaud) Garand

Kathleen V. Garand at age 87 still a force of nature, took her last breath on the afternoon of February 12, 2026, surrounded by her family and friends at Baystate Medical Center, just a few blocks from her childhood home on Silver Street in Springfield. She shared this home with her parents Henry Horace Michaud and Mary Rose (Delude) Michaud and her siblings June, Lucille, Lorraine, and Henry. She attended Cathedral High School and Elms College until she married her life-long partner, Richard N. Garand in 1958. They soon started a family and moved to Ludlow having a son, Richard Jr. and a daughter, Kimberley (Wolcott).

You might know Kathy when she was a school bus driver in Wilbraham, or working in her family’s commercial cleaning business. After raising her children she went back to school and earned a degree in Dietary Sciences and then worked for decades as a registered dietician at Wing Memorial Hospital and Mary Lane Hospital. After her retirement she enjoyed making jewelry and other crafts at the Ludlow Senior Center and gathering with her many friends there. Kathy also loved to decorate for Christmas and Halloween, having hundreds of children trick or treating and meeting their black lab, Molly in their home in Electric Park. She was an avid gardener and created beautiful displays of flowers and enjoyed feeding family and neighbors with raspberries and rhubarb from her gardens.

Kathy and Dick were integral parts of her grandchildren’s lives, taking Sean, Heather, and Andrew Wolcott on countless adventures throughout New England and on weeklong trips to the Cape and the Vineyard. Kathy continued this with her great granddaughter Lorraine Love. She led a vibrant and loving existence until the last few weeks of her life, driving about local towns almost daily with her friend Carol Dupuis, and even cooking Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner this year for her family. She reveled in her family, creating gatherings of friends and family with good food and music.

She was predeceased by her parents, siblings, and husband and leaves behind many beloved family and friends. We thank the many caregivers at Baystate Medical Center Springfield, general care, ICU, and palliative care doctors and staff that cared for her. A celebration of life will be held for close family and friends in the springtime.