Board of Directors
Kathy grew up along Lake Erie which launched her love and appreciation for nature. Once people were advised not to swim in the lake due to the pollution, she became aware of the need to work with organizations and government agencies to protect nature. She earned a degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University. Upon graduation she worked in the public relations office of The Defiance College and Bowling Green State University’s news service office before heading home to raise her two young daughters. She returned to the work with a position with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and a variety of other short-term jobs as she and her husband moved for his various jobs. She has published over a hundred periodical articles and seven books on a variety of topics. Kathy earned her Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from the former Lutheran Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, an extension program of Wartburg Theological Seminary.
Her church staff positions included youth ministry with frequent trips to retreat centers, summer camp programs, and the ELCA National Youth Gatherings. She worked at Lutherhill Ministries in LaGrange, Texas for eight years. During that time the camp migrated from part of a three-synod state-wide outdoor ministry organization to the new Lutherhill Ministries 501c3 non-profit in the Gulf Coast Synod.
For three years she was the Director of the Melanchthon Institute, a continuing Christian Education outreach ministry hosted by Christ the King in Houston, Texas. The Institute frequently hosted seminary faculty for courses and seminars and provided other enrichment program for area laity and clergy.
She retired from full time ministry in 2014. For her final three years she served as the director of the former ELCA Stewardship Key Leader Program. From 2007 through 2022 she served as a consultant to 40 congregational capital campaign projects in 13 states.
Since retiring from full time ministry, she has focused on writing, specifically telling a fuller and more honest version of the first encounters between European immigrants and first nation cultures. In addition to volunteer work with her home church Messiah Lutheran in Reynoldsburg (Columbus), Ohio, she writes weekly Substack biographies about good people doing great things in our global village. She also writes articles for Gather Magazine, Living Lutheran, other publications and columns about the on-going impact of the mass migration of Europeans to North America since the 1600s.
After many years in Texas, she returned home to Ohio in 2022 where she and her husband live near some of the family and travel around the country visiting others scattered from coast to coast in eight states.