Bio:
The Society maintains, preserves, and presents both the oldest house in Sarasota County and the Crocker Memorial Church.
These buildings were moved and thus saved from demolition by members and contributions. Kate is perhaps best known for her first-person historical presentations of Bertha Palmer, Sarasota’s Legendary Lady and Queen of Chicago, who made Sarasota her winter residence from 1910 until her death in 1918.
She also presents as Lizzy Webb Guptill, who came to this area in 1867 when she was 12 years old, and who saw the changes “From Wilderness to County.” As volunteer social media wrangler for the Historical Society, one of Kate’s greatest delights is to find and research facts and fantasies that will make every county resident, experienced or novice, understand and cherish what our area is all about.
Kate’s career was in the consignment business, and she is a noted consultant and how-to author in that field. Her first mystery novel, The Picker Who Perished, takes place in a fictional Sarasota consignment shop. Kate is currently at work on an historical novel of early Sarasota. The series will follow a family from Sarasota’s pioneer days to today.
