Susan Cottrell O’Brien, known to many as “Katie,” passed away at Riverside Place Memory Care in Hoquiam, Washington on May 8, 2025. She was 74 years old.

Katie was born on Sept. 3, 1950, in Morestel, France, to parents Theodore Cottrell and Doris Jean (Sommers) Cottrell. The family later returned to Grayland, Washington and their family’s cranberry farm. Katie attended middle school and high school in San Diego, California, and then got bachelor’s degrees in drama and psychology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, moving back to Grays Harbor some years after that. On Feb. 18, 1984, she married Paul Timothy O’Brien at St. Mary’s Church in Aberdeen, Washington. They went on to have 2 daughters, Monica and Rosemary. Katie worked as a court clerk for over 35 years at both the Juvenile Detention Center in Junction City and the Superior Courthouse in Montesano.

Katie was a gifted writer who had two one-act plays published in the early 1970s, “But, Listen!” and “Yellow Roses.” Her father Ted Cottrell helped start Driftwood Players in the late 1950s — his signature role was Elwood P. Dowd in “Harvey.” Katie joined the group when a revival of the play was performed back in the mid-2000s. She went on to have a few onstage roles like Hannah in Little Women, but primarily made her mark behind the scenes as a stagehand/occasional seamstress. In her spare time, Katie loved to read and often had her nose in a book or several! She also enjoyed quilting, picking blackberries, and chopping firewood. In the 1990s, she got the travel bug and took her family to over 25 countries on a shoestring budget, even going to China once because she got the trip on sale.

Katie is survived by her daughters, Monica (Joseph) Shay of Birch Bay, Washington and Rosemary (Christopher) Cusson-O’Brien of Belfast, Maine; sister-in-law, Jennie Cottrell of Arvada, Colorado; sister Kathleen (Michael) Roberson of Marysville, Washington; granddaughters, Natalie, Cordelia, and Roisin; as well as many nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Paul O’Brien; parents, Theodore and Doris Cottrell; and her brother, Michael Cottrell.

Donations can be made in memory of Katie to the North Beach PAWS animal rescue.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Harrison Family Mortuary.