Kathy Jarrett: Grrl on the go

The story of Ms. Kathy Jarrett is a hair-raising tale of one grrl's triumph over adversity. 

KJ, as her coworkers call her, earned her veterinary pathology degree from North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1990. Upon graduation, she accepted a position as chief forensic pathologist with GanMed, a Washington, DC firm that specializes in developing gene therapies for a myriad of human problems. But getting to that position was a struggle.

Kathy was born to a poor farming family in the Smoky Mountains in 1964. The youngest of eleven children, she displayed an affinity and affection for animals on her parents' farm from a young age, and, she says, the animals trusted her innately. Farm life was difficult for the family, but that was soon to change.

A tragic incident involving a washing machine, a bottle rocket and a corn thrasher took the lives of her parents and five of her siblings in 1974, and ten year old Kathy was sent to live with a kindly-but-misguided spinster aunt who often kept Kathy home from school "to keep me from getting fancy ideas," Kathy says. When Kathy was 17, her aunt was killed when one of her goats fell from her thatched roof barn, crushing her.

Kathy set out on her own, working and finishing her high school education. Remarkably, she graduated at the top of her class and went on to earn a biology degree before attending NC State. She worked as a laboratory animal technician throughout her college career and graduated with honors.

What's this grrl-on-the-go do during her spare time? "I love Stephen King," she says, which seems surprising for this petite brunette with eyes that could have been painted by Louis Wain. "I go four-wheeling when I get the chance. I also love listening to groups like Blondie. I love pretty much anything that lets me get out of the lab and escape what my friends call "whacking rats." I love my work, but all work and no play, you know what they say," she smiles.

This is one grrl that proves beyond any doubt that whatever your lot in life is, you can rise above it and be something even better. You go, KJ!

Kelly Spencer grrl-e-grrl.com contributor