During World War II, Kathryn worked for the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot. At 4:20 p.m., July 6, 1943, she was on the navy bus which crashed into a railroad bridge abutment on North Street, in Weymouth Heights (near Church Street). A Patriot Ledger newspaper article the following day reports "Katherine Donohue" suffered a possible fracture of her left leg and hip, and a nose injury. It does not specify which of these resulted in her death 4 months later.