Katie Filling was lying in her hospital bed about a year ago when a nurse came in and told her she had an unexpected guest. Would it be OK to send him up?

Filling recognized her former fifth-grade student right away, even though it had been two decades since she taught him at a Baltimore County public school.

Now in his 30s, he just so happened to be a physician assistant working with Filling’s oncologist. The man told her she’d changed his life — how, as a boy, he was bullied and lacked self-confidence, but she believed he was smart and capable.

“He told her that she was his favorite teacher and what an impression that she had left on him that lasted him a lifetime,” recalled Filling’s mother, Donna Krug, who was in the room at the time.

Filling always wanted her students to succeed, whether it was in her decade as a grade school teacher or the next 16 years helping struggling children as an administrator. Plus, she taught dozens of students as an adjunct professor at Towson University.

So it was no surprise when some 600 people showed up to Filling’s memorial service, including some former pupils.

Filling, a devoted mother and educator who prioritized family above all else, died Dec. 7 after a 10-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 48.

She was born Feb. 9, 1977, the second of Donna and Fred Krug’s four girls. As a child growing up in New Windsor, Filling relished time with older sister Kristen (whom she called “Kissy”) and her younger sisters, twins Courtney and Carrie.

Their parents called them the four musketeers. The girls played with dolls and took family trips to the beach, where Katie refused to put her feet in the sand. At home, she’d always chase birds around the yard, leading her father to give her the nicknames “Bird” and “Birdie.”

Filling enjoyed going to school and was a responsible student, Fred Krug said. She made friends easily, especially as she picked up extracurriculars — softball, field hockey, piano, violin, flute. She and Kristen often spent weekends at the roller skating rink.

She was a particularly gifted swimmer, starting at age 7 and competing until the end of her high school years. She was best at breaststroke — and not so much backstroke, when she’d just go in circles, her mom laughed.

Filling attended public school before enrolling at Notre Dame Preparatory School in the ninth grade. The Towson school was an hour away from home. She was notoriously late, and she’d embarrass her sisters by having them ask other drivers for the time.

Sarah Weiskittel met Filling at Notre Dame Prep and started a lifelong friendship by picking Filling’s protractor off the floor one day and returning it to her.

Filling was an old soul with a big smile and a great laugh, and people gravitated toward her, Weiskittel said.

“She always made time to hear anything going on in your life,” she said. “If there was something wrong, she was always willing to offer advice in a gentle, caring way.”

Filling liked a good time, whether it was throwing a party or playing matchmaker. Her friends returned the favor, Weiskittel said.

Katie and Matt Filling were the only two people who didn’t know they were on a date when a group of friends invited them out to dinner and a comedy show in 2003, her husband said. At the end of the night, he asked her out, and they had a “crazy, mad love.”

They bought a house together in Towson two years later, and he proposed at sunset on an Ocean City beach. Filling now liked the sand.

The couple got married in 2006. As a gag gift at the wedding rehearsal dinner, her friends introduced “Cardboard Kate,” a life-size picture of Filling from a high school dance.

Filling became an instant mom — and best friend — to her husband’s daughter, Madeline, from a previous marriage.

“They had probably the best relationship you could ever hope for in a step-parent-type relationship,” Matt Filling said.

The couple later had two more daughters, Sophie and Lyla. Filling’s family was her entire world, loved ones said.

“She never wanted to miss out on anything,” said Carrie Krug, her sister. “She was at every game they had. She was at every school production or whatever they were involved in, if it was a concert or anything like that. She always, always, always put her girls first, and she did everything and anything for them.”

She especially instilled in her daughters the value of education, to which she’d devoted her professional life.

Filling was the only one of her sisters who knew from a young age what she wanted to do, her dad said. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Towson University because of its reputation as a teacher’s college.

She started her career in Baltimore County Public Schools teaching third through fifth grade. About a decade later, she pivoted to administrative work at the district level, where she wrote policies to help close educational gaps and provide assistance to children experiencing poverty or homelessness.

“She wanted kids to have the same opportunities that she had,” said Courtney Krug, her sister.

Filling later enrolled in a doctoral program in instructional leadership at Notre Dame of Maryland University, finishing her degree even after her cancer diagnosis. She taught classes at Towson University up until the very end, her parents said.

“It was just her,” Fred Krug said. “There’s always her quest for knowledge and learning and to be her better self.”

Filling prepared herself for anything, he added. After she was diagnosed in 2015, she became an expert on the illness. Through the years, she navigated surgeries, chemotherapy and experimental drugs. She bonded with her care team at Mercy Hospital, some becoming like members of her family.

Fred Krug never heard his daughter complain about her condition. She prayed and never gave up hope for a cure. The treatments sometimes took a toll, but she continued living her life to the fullest, loved ones said.

One of her personal mantras was, “Don’t be afraid to say yes,” said her older sister, Kristen Beal. Her loved ones called her “Wonder Woman” for the way she navigated her cancer journey.

Filling’s family and friends plan to keep her memory alive through academic scholarships and support for ovarian cancer research and awareness.

And Cardboard Kate may make an occasional appearance, too. After Filling died, her friends ordered a new cutout — one with her face photoshopped on the superhero’s body.

The Banner publishes news stories about people who have recently died in Maryland. If your loved one has passed and you would like to inquire about an obituary, please contact obituary@thebanner.com. If you are interested in placing a paid death notice, please contact groupsales@thebanner.com or visit this website.