Kathryn Ann (Breuninger) Poulson, a longtime Oxford resident and teacher, died Dec. 1, 2020, from COVID-19.
She was 91.

The eldest of three children, Kathy was born to Walter and Evelyn (White) Breuninger of Dexter, Michigan, on Oct. 12, 1929. She was active in 4-H and attended Parker School, a one-room schoolhouse that she often recalled walking to from the family farm through winter snowdrifts. The year the bridge went out, the repair crew helped her ford Mill Creek each day to get to the school.  
She graduated from Ann Arbor High School in 1947. 
A determined student and lover of education, she attended Michigan State College from 1947 to 1950 where she met Keith Andrew Poulson. She chose to marry Keith instead of completing her senior year. They married Sept. 16, 1950, a union that lasted more than 60 years.
Kathy secured her first teaching job in 1952, a second-grade position at Mount Morris/Flushing schools. Keith also taught in that system and drove a school bus.
In 1953, they built a small house in Chelsea where they both taught. After contracting tuberculosis in 1958, Kathy was quarantined from her young family for nine months in the TB Sanatorium in Pinckney and at the University of Michigan Hospital.
They moved to Oxford in 1961. They lived on Dennison Street for 50 years, just a short walk from Immanuel Congregational United Church of Christ where they were members. 
Kathy taught kindergarten for 32 years at the nearby Daniel Axford Elementary school.  During her career she touched the lives of more than 2,000 young students, many of whom still recall her fondly as a good and kind – but strict – teacher.
Her passion for early elementary education led her to help found the Chelsea Co-op Nursery, a Child Study Club in Oxford and to be active in the Oxford Education Association. One summer she recruited her own children and their friends to run Operation Headstart, an educational program for low-income preschoolers.
In 1966, while working and raising a family, she completed her teaching degree at Michigan State University. She was a longtime and avid Spartan fan – some said her divine intervention sparked the MSU basketball team’s victory over Duke shortly after her death.
She loved spending summers camping across the country, backyard family potlucks, and taking grandchildren shopping for treasures at flea markets. One summer she rented a cottage so four generations of her family could stay under one roof for a week.
Kathy retired in 1984. She and Keith traveled to Europe several times and escaped Michigan winters to Sebring, Florida, where they made many new friends. She enjoyed reading, genealogy, decorating her home, entertaining and watching the MSU Spartans and Detroit Tigers. For a final European adventure she took her eldest granddaughter to Germany to track down relatives and share her love of family history. 
The couple eventually moved to Mendelson Assisted Living in Waterford where they found a wonderful community under one roof. 
Kathy is preceded in death by her beloved husband Keith (2011); survived by four children, Celeste (Rick) Beroza of Brea, California; David (Kristine) Poulson of DeWitt; Denise (James) Norman of Almont; Lisa (Darrin) Thomas of Lake Orion; 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Also surviving are her brother Robert Breuninger of Dexter, sister Phylis Fuerstenau of Richmond, cousin Robert Baker of East Lansing and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service in Oxford will be when gatherings are possible. Private interment is at Ridgelawn Memorial Cemetery.
Kathy was a voracious reader, a love she passed on to her children, students and the grandchildren she often took shopping for books.  Memorials may be made to the Kathryn Poulson Children’s Literacy Fund for Oxford’s Daniel Axford Elementary School classroom libraries at:  www.gofundme.com/f/kathryn-poulsons-childrens-literacy-fund
Tributes and condolences may be posted on the Lynch and Sons Funeral Home website at www.lynchandsonsoxford.com or sent to Lisa Thomas, 2679 Regency Drive, Lake Orion, Michigan, 48359.