Katie grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Both of her parents set examples of working in public service. Katie’s father was a Lutheran minister, serving as a chaplain in public nursing homes in the City of St. Louis. He was president of an inter-faith partnership and on the board of an inter-faith housing agency for people with HIV and AIDs. Katie’s mother worked with homeless women in a variety of roles including thougth teaching, directing a shelter, and directing a homeless resource bank coordinating donations city-wide. Katie's parents instilled values of inclusion and empathy, including through volunteering with their organizations as a family and celebrating diverse cultural and religious traditions.
Katie attended the University of Rochester in upstate New York, earning a bachelors of science magna cum laude in environmental science. She attended Boston College Law School and graduated magna cum laude in 2004, having served on the Boston College Law Review, competed on the environmental moot court team, served as a teaching assistant for legal writing, and team-taught environmental law to Boston College undergraduate students. Katie met her husband, Kyle, at law school, and they married after she graduated.
Katie and Kyle moved to Washington in 2004 and Katie served as a judicial law clerk to Justice Mary Fairhurst of the Washington Supreme Court. She then worked as an associate attorney at the law firm Perkins Coie, LLP practicing in employment law and appellate litigation.
She and Kyle took a leap of faith, moving to Friday Harbor in 2008. Katie was fortunate to land in a small law firm, practicing in litigation, family law, real estate, and probate and estate planning in Island and San Juan counties for approximately 10 years. Katie immersed herself in the community, volunteering with numerous non-profits and served on the Board of Trustees of the San Juan Island Library District and as a mentor for a middle school student. Katie also served as a pro tem commissioner for San Juan County Superior Court.
Governor Inslee appointed Katie to the San Juan County Superior Court bench in November 2017, and she stood for election to keep the position in 2018 and 2020.
Katie’s parents, Barb and Dennis, retired and relocated to Friday Harbor from Buffalo, New York in 2009.
Katie is escorted to work most days by Kyle and their dog Frodo. She and Kyle take regular bike trips throughout the Northwest and beyond. They try to get outside whenever they can, walking, hiking and generally enjoying our beautiful surroundings in the San Juans.