Kathie Cibulski died on Tuesday, Aug. 1 following a brief and recent battle with cancer, according to an announcement by the Cutchogue Fire Department.

The 56-year-old Mattituck native joined the department in 2004.

She spent time serving as a past officer, EMT, and the department’s Chicken Barbecue Chairperson.

“Most importantly,” the department wrote, Kathie was “a friend to many.”

A Facebook post announcing Kathi’s death in a Mattituck High School Alumni group showcased how far Kathie’s benevolence and companionship reached.

“I met Kathie when I transferred from Sacred Heart to MHS,” Beth Schwarz Shipman commented.

“That bright sweet personality & smile she introduced herself with was the same bright sweet smile, personality and energy she had every time I saw her for the following 43 years…Our community lost one of it’s loveliest people.”

According to a post by Paige Romanowski, Kathie’s sister-in-law and founder of a local fitness company, Kathie “was too young to be taken so soon.”

“She impacted all of us,” Romanowski wrote on her company page, BodyRite, where Kathie “inspired countless people” by helping her sister-in-law get her business off the ground.

Between Kathie’s many interests and endeavors, one thread remains the same: Kathie touched the life of everyone she met.

“What a sweet lady..so much fun and always smiling..500's gonna miss you, 497,” wrote Don Lazar, referencing Kathie’s member number at the Cutchogue Fire Department on the agency’s announcement post.

Another mourner agreed: “Humanity takes a hit when you lose someone like Kathie.”

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