Katharine Frederick was born on October 16, 1902, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the daughter of George and Emilie Kurtz Frederick. As a young child she moved with her parents and three brothers to Beloit. She graduated from Beloit High School and in 1926 from Rockford College where she was class treasurer. She continued her involvement with Rockford College alumnae association, which she served as auditor.

Miss Frederick was an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church where she was a member of the Women’s Guild. She served on the diocesan church board and as Key Woman for St. John’s Episcopal Home in Milwaukee.

An active member of the Beloit Chapter Red Cross, she was honored in 1980 as Honorary Chairman of Volunteers for the Blood Bank, having given 1,000 hours of service in the past five years. She gave a half century to volunteer work with the Red Cross. Her service included everything from being chapter secretary for twenty-five years to cutting more than four hundred ditty bags for servicemen. She was chairman of volunteer services and a member of the budget committee.

Miss Frederick was a Diplomat with the Women’s Division of the Greater Beloit Association of Commerce and was named one of the outstanding women in Beloit in 1980. She was a member and past president of the American Legion Auxiliary. At one time she was the District President of the Legion Auxiliary, working in a five-county area.

She was treasurer of the Beloit Federation of Women for many years and was a past president of the First District Federation of Women’s Clubs which named her Citizen of the Year in 1966. For many years she was the historian at the district level. In 1973 she was saluted as a Beloit Booster in the Beloit Daily News and a radio station WBEL named her a Woman of the Week in 1973.

She became a member of the American Association of University Women in 1927. In 1975 she was the Beloit AAUW Woman of the Year. In 1977 the Beloit branch of the AAUW honored her with a $500 name grant to the AAUW State Education fund. In 1984 after her death, a gift of the book, “Wisconsin Women: A Gifted Heritage” was presented to the Beloit Public Library in Miss Frederick’s memory.

Katharine also was a member of the Art League of Beloit, American Association of Retired Persons, Chapter #1606, of which she served as a member of the finance committee and as an auditor, Parliamentary Law Club which she served in all offices, the Stateline Area YMCA which she served as a board member for two terms and she was a charter patron of the Beloit-Janesville Symphony Orchestra.

She was a member, director and treasurer of the Beloit Historical Society for many years and was active at the Bartlett-Hanchett house. She donated memorabilia related to the city’s history frequently. She was given a Life Membership in the Beloit Historical Society in 1973. She was a charter member of the Rock County Historical Society where she was cited with an award of merit for service rendered to historical organizations.

Miss Frederick was a member of the founding committee for Old World Wisconsin at Eagle, Wisconsin and was instrumental in selecting some of the first ethnic developments there. She also belonged to the Wisconsin Historical Society. She contributed much to the Book of Beloit, 1936. She took an active part in the 1976 Bicentennial Committee in Beloit.

She was a member of the Beloit Hall of Fame committee from its inception in 1936 until her death in 1983. She died in Beloit Memorial Hospital after a short illness on December 26, 1983, at the age of 81.