Vice Mayor King's work to garner support and funding for a children's hospital in San Jose earned her the respect of nearly everyone with whom she worked, and more importantly, turned the concept into a reality.

State Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn presented King with the Woman of the Year award for the 24th Assembly District March 15 to honor her dedication and service to the community.

According to a press release issued by Cohn, King was chosen because she is an "inspirational leader with a long history of accomplishment."

King's peers agree. Paul Dubois, a member of the Silicon Valley Children's Hospital Foundation she helped form and president of the Los Gatos Community Foundation, said he was "thrilled and proud" to hear about the award.

Dubois said King was instrumental in breaking down barriers to getting the hospital approved.

"She was the spark," he said. "She was the person who kept it going. That hospital would not be a reality without her."

The vice mayor's interest in the hospital stems from her experience with her 7-year-old son, Robert. Robert has alpha mannosidosis, a rare enzyme deficiency that causes hearing, language, muscular, skeletal and immune problems. The only local places for Robert to be seen by certain kinds of pediatric specialists are the UC-San Francisco Children's Hospital or the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University.

King started the SVCH Foundation in 1999 with the hope that families in the San Jose area could soon take their children to a more convenient facility.

Mike O'Farrell, vice president of community affairs for Applied Materials and a member of the foundation's executive committee, said that even when her son's condition has been particularly bad, King has reached out to other families.

"She attended to her own family and also to other children and families in need," he said. "It speaks volumes about her character."

For the last year and a half, King has brought her energy to the Saratoga City Council. Saratoga Mayor Ann Waltonsmith said community members who have worked with King on various projects have seen that energy at work.

"Whatever she participates in she adds value to," Waltonsmith said. "She works very hard—she's never a passive member of a group."

King was honored, along with about 80 other Women of the Year from other districts throughout the state, at an Assembly meeting in Sacramento March 15. She said the award has reaffirmed her desire to work on community and civic issues.

"My passion is the children's hospital, and it's nice to be recognized for that work," she said. "It just makes me that much more set on working on that."

It will probably be at least four years before the hospital opens. By that time, if King hasn't spearheaded another major community improvement, she will without a doubt at least have made more friends. Dubois said he "couldn't think of anybody who's more deserving" of the Woman of the Year distinction.

"You can't help but like Kathleen," he said. "She's so full of energy, but she's also very down to earth, and she comes up with really good ideas."