A beloved upstate New York native was among the “super moms” tragically killed in a California avalanche last week.
Kate Pettrone Morse, 45, was a married mother of three who grew up in tiny Averill Park in Rensselaer County before relocating to the West Coast and taking a job as a pharmaceutical-company executive, the Albany Times Union reported.
Morse was one of nine skiers killed when they were buried in snow near Castle Peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains on the Nevada-California border Feb. 17 while on a ski outing with five girlfriends.
“She was a beautiful, caring friend who was so much fun to be around,” longtime friend Kerry Sheldon told the Times Union.
“She grew up in a small town and went on to have an amazing life doing amazing things. She will no doubt remain in the hearts of everyone who knew her.”
Morse was a 1999 graduate of Averill park High School and went on to Williams College in Massachusetts, then earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in New Hampshire, the outlet reported.
She later moved to the San Francisco Bay area and eventually became vice president of commercial strategy at Septema pharmaceuticals, a California-based biotech company.
The firm called the late mom “a bright light and unforgettable force of energy.
“Kate was a devoted wife and mother who proudly brought her children to the office, serving as a truly caring and powerful example to our teams,” it said in a statement to The Post.
Last week, Morse was on a dream ski trip with her friends when they were trapped in the deadliest avalanche in the Golden State in modern history.
“We are devastated beyond words,” the women’s families said in a joint statement released last week. “Our focus right now is supporting our children through this incredible tragedy and honoring the lives of these extraordinary women.
“They were all mothers, wives and friends, all of whom connected through the love of the outdoors,” the statement said. “They were passionate, skilled skiers who cherished time together in the mountains. They lived in the Bay Area, Idaho, and the Truckee–Tahoe region.”
Morse, a former Girl Scout whose mother was a school nurse, never forgot her Empire State hometown and would periodically return for the annual Taborton Christmas Party, a tradition begun by her friends in high school, the times-Union said.
“As a mother myself, I’m just so devastated for her kids and her husband,” said high school friend Angela Labombard. “I can’t even imagine her poor father, who already lost his wife.
“We all kind of knew each other here at Averill Park,” Labombard said. “She was always very smart and just the kind of person that you knew was going to do something.”
In July, the close-knit group of childhood friends got together for another outing — a show at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center featuring the jam band Phish.
