Kathryn Ann Sessions

“The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.”

Kathryn Lambert Sessions, beloved mother, wife, grandma (Gigi) and great grandmother, educator, librarian, legislator, and lifelong champion of Wyoming’s children, passed away on May 25, 2026, surrounded by family. Born on February 13, 1942, in Jackson, Wyoming, Kathryn spent more than eight decades devoted to learning and education, public service, and to her efforts at listening to others when they needed an ear, making life better for those around her and throughout the State of Wyoming.

Kathryn grew up in Big Piney, Wyoming, where she attended Big Piney High School. Her and her family’s deep roots throughout Wyoming instilled in her a deep love for the people and communities of her home state — an affinity she would carry throughout her life. She met and married the love of her life, E. Scott Sessions, and the two married on May 26, 1959, in Big Piney. They started to build a life there, but after three children, Scott and Kathryn recognized the need to build something more for their family. They courageously packed up and moved to Logan, Utah, attending Utah State University where Kathryn earned her Bachelor of Science in Education.

A Life in Education

Kathryn’s earliest years as an educator took her to the Big Horn Basin region of Wyoming, where she taught children in several communities including Byron and Cowley. Those who knew her then remember her as a teacher who saw potential in every student, especially those whom others may have overlooked. She was, above all else, a champion of the underdog.

When she and Scott later moved from Powell to Cheyenne after Governor Herschler appointed Scott as Executive Director of Wyoming’s first Commission on the Aging, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Arts in the Curriculum and took part in educating Wyoming’s younger generation as librarian at Johnson Junior High School in Cheyenne. There she helped to shape the intellectual lives of countless young people in Cheyenne who even years later would stop her to say “Hello Mrs. Sessions” and to tell her how well they were doing.

Service to Wyoming

Kathryn’s passion for education led her naturally into politics where she worked to help shape Wyoming’s laws to benefit other educators and their students. She represented Laramie County in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1993 to 1998, and then in the Wyoming Senate, District 7, from 1999 to 2011. She served as Senate Minority Leader from 2009 to 2010. In the legislature, she was the same person she had always been in the classroom and in the library — willing to listen, always principled, and ever optimistic about Wyoming’s future. She fought for Wyoming’s public schools with the same steady determination she had brought to every classroom and library she had ever walked into.

Her work did not end when she left the legislature. Kathryn continued to serve on the Wyoming State Board of Education for several years where she remained a tireless voice for students, teachers, and the communities that depend on strong public schools.

A Woman Who Rooted for the Underdog

Those who loved Kathryn describe a woman of quiet strength and determination. Whether in a classroom in Byron, the quiet library in Johnson Junior High, or the chambers of the Wyoming Legislature, Kathryn Sessions stood up for those who needed someone in their corner. She believed, to her core, that every child deserved a great education and every community deserved someone willing to fight for it.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband, E. Scott Sessions, and is survived by her three adult children; James (Lynn) Sessions, Robin (Dan) Cooley, Samantha (John) Cowper, grandchildren, including: Kelli Anderson, Haley Sessions, Scott Sessions; Rafer (Shaya) Cooley, Madison Cooley, Dawson Cooley; Nickolas Meier, Nathan (Avery) Cowper, Noah (Irene) Cowper, and great grandchildren: Harper, Addie, Jonathan, Libby, EllieSue, Ada and Grace. She is also survived by a vast extended family of former students, colleagues, and friends whose lives she touched across more than six decades of dedicated friendship and service.

A Memorial Service for Kathryn will be held July 11, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3312 E. Lincolnway, Cheyenne, Wyoming.