Katrina Steck Mescher, Class of 1972

Katrina Steck Mescher ’72 died Jan. 29, 2021. Trina was born Jan. 9, 1950, in Columbus, Ohio, to the late William ’37 and Sara Kelser ’37 Steck. She graduated in 1968 from Westerville High School and four years later from Otterbein College with a degree in Early Childhood Education. At Otterbein she was involved in the Torch & Key, Student Government, and the Theta Nu (Greenwich) sorority. While pursuing postgraduate work in children’s reading development at Ohio State University, she met her husband Anthony Mescher.

Trina served as a teacher at St. Mark’s Nursery School and Kindergarten in Bloomington for 27 years, retiring in 2017. In retirement her daily joys invariably began with a large café au lait while completing the NYT crossword and usually ended with a healthy dose of laughter with Stephen Colbert. Trina was a passionate reader, especially of fiction, with works by Toni Morrison, Kate Atkinson, and Marilynne Robinson among her many favorites. Central to Trina’s life was her faith as expressed here by the St. Mark’s church community with whom she was deeply involved, including longtime service as the Co-Lay Leader. Trina’s faith called her to action, and she was an early volunteer in Bloomington with the Community Kitchen, then still located at Monroe County United Ministries; the Interfaith Winter Shelter; and the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, where she served on the Board of Directors for many years until her passing. Passionate about social justice, Trina worked to educate and make more inclusive the many communities to which she belonged.

Along with husband Tony, Trina is survived by sons: Ben and Jeremy (Mariah) Mescher. Other survivors include her sister, Gretchen ’73 (David) Horstman and her brother Fred (Marlene) Steck ’69, nephew Will Steck and cousin Charles Steck ’60. She was preceded in death by her parents Bill ’37 and Sally ’37, and cousin Don Steck ’52.