Katherine Oppenheimer
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Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer ( Puening; August 8, 1910 – October 27, 1972) was a German American biologist, botanist, and a member of the
Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
. She is best known as the common-law wife of activist Joe Dallet, and then the wife of physicist
J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is oft ...
, the director of the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
's
Los Alamos Laboratory The Los Alamos Laboratory, also known as Project Y, was a secret laboratory established by the Manhattan Project and operated by the University of California during World War II. Its mission was to design and build the first atomic bombs. Ro ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.


Early life

Katherine "Kitty" Vissering Puening was born in Recklinghausen,
Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...
,
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, on August 8, 1910, the only child of Franz Puening and his wife Käthe Vissering. Although she claimed that her father was a prince and that her mother was related to
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
, this was untrue. Her mother was a cousin of
Wilhelm Keitel Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal and war criminal who held office as chief of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces, duri ...
, who later became a field marshal in the German Army during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and was hanged in 1946. Puening arrived in the United States on May 14, 1913, aboard the SS ''Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse''. Her father, a metallurgical engineer, had invented a new kind of blast furnace, and had gained employment with a steel company in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
, and the family settled in the suburb of Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. Although her first language was German, she soon became fluent in English, speaking both languages without accent. Her parents regularly took her with them on summer visits to Germany. After graduating from Aspinwall High School in June 1928, Puening enrolled at the
University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
. She lived at home and attended freshman classes in mathematics, biology and chemistry. Her father now worked for
Koppers Koppers is a global chemical and materials company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States in an art-deco 1920s skyscraper, the Koppers Tower. Structure Koppers is an integrated global producer of carbon compounds, chemicals, and trea ...
, and held patents for the design of blast furnaces. Puening convinced her parents that it would be a good idea for her to study in Germany, and she sailed for Europe in March 1930. It is doubtful that she took any classes, but she did meet Frank Ramseyer, an American studying music in Paris under
Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...
, before sailing for home on 19 May. Puening completed the first year of her degree, but married Ramseyer before a Justice of the Peace in Pittsburgh on 24 December 1932. The couple moved to an apartment near
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, where Ramseyer hoped to pursue a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
in music. She re-enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in January 1933, and returned to her parents' house in Aspinwall. In June 1933 she sailed to Europe again, with her husband. When she returned, she enrolled at the
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
, although there is no record of her ever completing any classes. She obtained an
annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning al ...
of her marriage from the Superior Court of Wisconsin on 20 December 1933. She later told friends that she had discovered evidence that Ramseyer was a homosexual and a
drug addict Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
. She also had an
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
.


Communism

At a New Year's Eve party later that year, Puening met Joseph Dallet, Jr., the son of a wealthy Long Island businessman who had attended
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
. He had been radicalized by the 1927 executions of
Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...
, and had joined the
Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
in 1929. He had been involved in the
International Unemployment Day International Unemployment Day (March 6, 1930) was a coordinated international campaign of marches and Demonstration (people), demonstrations, marked by hundreds of thousands of people in major cities around the world taking to the streets to pro ...
protest in Chicago on 6 March 1930 that had been brutally repressed by the authorities, and was currently working as a
union organizer A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...
with the steel workers in
Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...
. At one point he ran for mayor of Youngstown on the Communist Party ticket, but was not elected. Puening's parents had moved to
Claygate Claygate is an affluent suburban village in Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It is the only civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Surrounded by green belt, it lies inside the Greater London Built-up Area. Claygate was once in t ...
, southwest of London, where her father represented a Chicago-based firm. On returning to the United States on 3 August 1934 after visiting family in Europe, she moved in with Dallet, becoming his common-law wife. They shared a room in a dilapidated boarding house that cost $5 per month.
Gus Hall Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg; October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a perennial candidate for president of the United States. He was the Communist Party nominee in the ...
and
John Gates John "Johnny" Gates, born Solomon Regenstreif (28 September 1913 – 23 May 1992) was an American Communist business man, best remembered as one of the individuals spearheading a failed attempt at liberalization of the Communist Party USA in ...
had a room down the hall. They lived on the
dole Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubušk ...
, $12.50 per month each. As the wife of a party member, Puening was allowed to join the Communist Party, but only after proving her loyalty by hawking copies of the ''
Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were ...
'' on the streets. Her party dues were 10c a week. They separated in June 1936, and Puening went to live with her parents in Claygate, where she worked as a German-to-English translator. Months went by without any word from Dallet, until Puening discovered that her mother had been hiding his letters to her. "Her mother," her friend Anne Wilson recalled, "was a real dragon, a very repressive woman. She disappeared one day over the side of a transatlantic ship, and nobody missed her. That says it all." The last letter from Dallet said that he was heading to Spain on the to join the International Brigades fighting in the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. Puening met up with Dallet and his best friend Steve Nelson in Cherbourg, and they travelled to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
together. After a few days there, she returned to London, and they headed south, crossing into Spain where he joined the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, a unit composed of American and Canadian volunteers. Puening wanted to join Dallet in Spain, and finally secured permission to do so. Her trip to Spain was delayed by hospitalization for an operation on 26 August 1937 for what was initially thought to be
appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a ru ...
, but which was determined to be ovarian cysts, which were removed by the German doctors. Puening returned to England to recuperate. Before she could depart for Spain, the news arrived that Dallet had been killed in action on 17 October 1937. His letters to her were published as ''Letters from Spain by Joe Dallet, American Volunteer, to his Wife'' (1938). Puening went to see Nelson, who was in Paris, having been wounded in August, and they returned to New York, where she stayed with Nelson and his wife Margaret at their home in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
for two months. She then headed for Philadelphia to see her friend Zelma Baker, who worked at the Cancer Research Institute at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
. Puening enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. There she met Richard Stewart Harrison, a medical doctor with degrees from
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
, who was completing his internship in the US. They were married on 23 November 1938.


Romance with Oppenheimer

Soon after, Harrison left for
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...
, California, for his residency at the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
(Caltech), while she remained in Philadelphia to complete her bachelor's degree in botany at the University of Pennsylvania, and was offered a postgraduate research fellowship at the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
. At Caltech, she worked with physicist Charles Lauritsen. The
X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10  picometers to 10  nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
laboratory at Caltech used for physics research was also used for experimental cancer therapy research. It was at a garden party thrown by Lauritsen and his wife Sigrid in August 1939 that she met
Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often ...
, a physicist who taught at Caltech for part of each year. Soon after, she began an affair with Oppenheimer. They were frequently seen about town in his Chrysler coupe. Oppenheimer had dated several women since his break up with long-time girlfriend Jean Tatlock, some of them married, like Kitty Harrison. At Christmas time she went up to Berkeley without her husband, to spend time with Oppenheimer. His friend
Haakon Chevalier Haakon Maurice Chevalier (Lakewood Township, New Jersey, September 10, 1901 – July 4, 1985) was an American writer, translator, and professor of French literature at the University of California, Berkeley best known for his friendship with p ...
met Kitty at a holiday dinner party thrown by the pianist Estelle Caen, one of Oppenheimer's ex-girlfriends. Oppenheimer invited Harrison and Kitty to spend the summer at his New Mexico ranch, '' Perro Caliente''. Harrison declined, as he was engaged in his research, but Kitty accepted.
Robert Serber Robert Serber (March 14, 1909 – June 1, 1997) was an American physicist who participated in the Manhattan Project. Serber's lectures explaining the basic principles and goals of the project were printed and supplied to all incoming scientific st ...
and his wife
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
collected Kitty in Pasadena, and drove her to ''Perro Caliente'', where they met up with Robert, his brother Frank Oppenheimer, and his wife Jackie. The Serbers had met Kitty before, at Charlotte Serber's parents' house in Philadelphia in 1938. The Oppenheimers loved to ride through the pine and birch forests and floral meadows of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, camping with minimal food and equipment. Kitty impressed them with her riding ability; horsemanship was a normal accomplishment for women of her social class, and she had learned to ride as a girl on the riding trails around Aspinwall. Kitty and Robert rode out to stay the night with his friend Katy Page in Los Pinos, New Mexico. The following day Page rode to ''Perro Caliente'' on her bay horse to return Kitty's night gown, which had been left under Robert's pillow. Kitty later told Anne Wilson that she got Robert to marry her the "old-fashioned way"—by getting pregnant. In September 1940, Robert phoned Harrison with the happy news, and they agreed that the best way forward was for Kitty to get a divorce so she could marry Robert. Soon after, Robert shared a podium with Nelson to raise money for refugees from the Spanish Civil War, and he informed him that he was engaged to Kitty. Nelson's wife was also pregnant, and he named his daughter, who was born in November 1940, Josie in memory of Dallet. To obtain a divorce, Kitty moved to
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
, where she stayed for six weeks to meet the state's residency requirements. The divorce was finalised on November 1, 1940, and Kitty married Oppenheimer the following day in a civil ceremony in
Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...
, with the court janitor and clerk as witnesses.


Manhattan Project

Their child, a son they called Peter, was born in Pasadena, on May 12, 1941, during Oppenheimer's regular session at Caltech. When they returned to Berkeley, he bought a new house at One Eagle Hill with a view over the
Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...
. Kitty worked at the University of California as a laboratory assistant. They left Peter with the Chevaliers and a German nurse and headed out to ''Perro Caliente'' for the summer. The holiday was marred when Oppenheimer was trampled by a horse, and Kitty was injured when she had an accident in their Cadillac convertible. The United States entered
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in December 1941, and Oppenheimer began recruiting staff for the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
. Among the first were the Serbers, who moved into the apartment over the garage at One Eagle Hill. On March 16, 1943, the couple boarded a train for Santa Fe, New Mexico. By the end of the month, they had moved to
Los Alamos, New Mexico Los Alamos is an census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, that is recognized as the development and creation place of the atomic bomb—the primary objective of the Manhattan Project by Los Alamos National Labo ...
, where they occupied one of the buildings formerly belonging to the Los Alamos Ranch School. Los Alamos was known to the occupants as "the Hill" and to the Manhattan Project as Site Y. Oppenheimer became the director of
Project Y The Los Alamos Laboratory, also known as Project Y, was a secret laboratory established by the Manhattan Project and operated by the University of California during World War II. Its mission was to design and build the first atomic bombs. Ro ...
. Kitty abdicated the role of post commander's wife to Martha Parsons, the wife of Robert's deputy, Navy Captain William S. Parsons. She put her biologist training to use working for the director of the Health Group at Los Alamos, Louis Hempelmann, conducting blood tests to assess the danger of radiation. In 1944, Kitty became pregnant again. Her second child, a girl Katherine who she named after her mother but called Toni, was born on December 7, 1944. Like other babies born in wartime Los Alamos, Toni's birth certificate gave the place of birth as P.O. Box 1663. In April 1945, Kitty was depressed by the isolation of Los Alamos, and she left Toni with Pat Sherr, the wife of physicist
Rubby Sherr Rubby Sherr (September 14, 1913 – July 8, 2013) was an American nuclear physicist who co-invented a key component of the first nuclear weapon while participating in the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. His academic career spanned ...
; Pat had recently lost her son, Michael, to
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and detailed death scene investigation. SIDS usuall ...
. Kitty returned with Peter to
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...
to live with her parents. They returned to Los Alamos in July 1945.


Later life

With the end of the war in August 1945, Oppenheimer had become a celebrity, and Kitty had become an alcoholic. She suffered a series of bone breaks from drunken falls and car crashes. In November 1945, Robert left Los Alamos to return to Caltech, but he soon found that his heart was no longer in teaching. In 1947, he accepted an offer from
Lewis Strauss Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss ( "straws"; January 31, 1896January 21, 1974) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and naval officer who served two terms on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the second as its chairman. He was a major ...
to take up the directorship of the
Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
in
Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
. The job came with rent-free accommodation in the director's house, a ten-bedroom 17th-century manor with a cook and
groundskeeper Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes, typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The U.S. Department of Labor e ...
, surrounded by of woodlands. Robert had a greenhouse built for Kitty, where she raised
orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
; for her birthdays Oppenheimer had rare species flown in from Hawaii. Olden Manor was sometimes known as "Bourbon Manor"; Kitty and Robert liked to keep the liquor cabinet well stocked, and like many of their generation, liked to celebrate cocktail hour with
martini Martini may refer to: * Martini (cocktail) * Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth * Martini (surname), an Italian surname * Martini (automobile company), a Swiss automobile company * Automobiles Martini, a French manufacturer of racing cars * M ...
s,
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
s, Old Fashioneds and
highball A highball is a mixed alcoholic drink composed of an alcoholic base spirit and a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic mixer, often a carbonated beverage. Examples include the Seven and Seven, Scotch and soda, gin and tonic, screwdriver (a.k.a ...
s. Both were also fond of smoking, and Kitty's habit of combining too much alcohol with smoking in bed led to a plethora of holes in her bedding and at least one house fire. She sometimes took too many pills, and suffered from abdominal pains caused by
pancreatitis Pancreatitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large organ behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and a number of hormones. There are two main types: acute pancreatitis, and chronic pancr ...
. Pain often prompted outbursts of anger. In 1952, Toni contracted
polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
, and doctors suggested that a warmer climate might help. The family flew to the Caribbean, where they rented a
ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...
. Robert and Kitty discovered a shared love of sailing, while Toni soon recovered. The family spent part of each summer on Saint John in the
Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...
, eventually building a beach house there. On January 6, 1967, Robert was diagnosed with inoperable cancer, and he died on February 18, 1967. Kitty had his remains
cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...
and his ashes were placed in an urn, which she took to St. John and dropped into the sea off the coast, within sight of the beach house. She took up with Robert Serber, whose wife Charlotte had committed suicide in May 1967. She talked him into buying a
yawl A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...
, which they sailed from New York to Grenada. In 1972, they purchased a ketch, with the intention of sailing through the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
and to Japan via the Galapagos Islands and
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...
. They set out, but Kitty became ill, and was taken to
Gorgas Hospital Gorgas Hospital was a U.S. Army hospital in Panama City, Panama, named for Army Surgeon General William C. Gorgas (1854–1920). Built on the site of an earlier (1882) French hospital called L'Hospital Notre Dame de Canal, it was originally (19 ...
, where she died of an
embolism An embolism is the lodging of an embolus, a blockage-causing piece of material, inside a blood vessel. The embolus may be a blood clot (thrombus), a fat globule (fat embolism), a bubble of air or other gas ( gas embolism), amniotic fluid (am ...
on October 27, 1972. Serber and Toni had her remains cremated, and they scattered her ashes near Robert's.


References


Sources

* * * * *


External links


Katherine Oppenheimer FBI file

''Letters from Spain by Joe Dallet, American Volunteer, to his Wife''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheimer, Katherine 1910 births 1972 deaths People from Recklinghausen People from the Province of Westphalia German emigrants to the United States Members of the Communist Party USA J. Robert Oppenheimer Manhattan Project people People from Los Alamos, New Mexico University of Pittsburgh alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni People from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Women on the Manhattan Project Burials at sea