By RAY QUIROGA
editor@sbnewspaper.com
More than many, San Benito High School senior Kaylee Mariah Treviño has an excuse to compromise her dreams or simply surrender to the cards that life has dealt her. Instead, with the support of her family, she is meeting fate and life’s challenges head on despite suffering the tragic loss of her mother in May 2021.
In fact, Treviño’s impressive scholastic accomplishments, classroom aptitude, and extracurricular activities are far too numerous to describe and list here. All this and the fact that Treviño not only aspires to be an accountant upon acquiring her degree from Texas A&M University—San Antonio, where she’ll be attending, but also aspires to one-day own a bookstore, propelled her to be named the 2023 San Benito News Scholarship recipient.
Treviño’s mother, Kathryn “Katie” Koite passed at the young age of 36, and was known throughout San Benito and the surrounding area as Thomea-Garza Funeral Home’s longtime office manager; she worked at the downtown San Benito funeral home for over 12 years and was described as a strong, fun-loving mother, who enjoyed spending time with her daughters and relaxing at the beach.
Koite was known to fight for her beliefs and be among the first to come to an individual’s defense, whether she knew that person her entire life or just met him or her that day. Those that knew Koite described her as a warrior, who fought her illness courageously until the end, and as someone who always put the needs of others before her own.
When it came to her children, she made every special occasion magical, Trevino recalled. Holding back tears as she sat down with the NEWS earlier this week, Treviño remembered her mother’s sense of humor and described her as the rock that kept her family anchored, in good times and bad.
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