Kathryn O. (Kate) Payne

Kathryn O. (Kate) Payne, 59, a technical writer, died as the result of a heart condition on Dec. 10, 2011, at her home in Cupertino, Calif.

Born in Des Moines, Payne earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Missouri, Rolla, in 1974. She later earned a B.A. in English in 1981 and an M.S. in computer science in 1985 at Corpus Christi State University (now Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi).

Payne remained at Corpus Christi State to teach introductory computer science courses. In 1987, she moved to California’s Silicon Valley and began a career as a technical writer. Specializing in software documentation for engineers, she worked for Amdahl, Computer Science Corp., Rational, Taligent, Hewlett-Packard, Magma Design Automation, Google, Starview Technology, and Nuance.

Payne was a member of the Science Fiction Research Association, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Society for Technical Communication. She joined ACS in 1975.

Payne is survived by her husband, Robert; sister, Louise Ogden; and brother, George Ogden Jr.