Katharine Harris Berger

Katharine “Kae” Harris Berger, 96 years old, of Kansas City, MO, passed away peacefully on Thursday, 24 March 2016, at North Kansas Hospital with family at her side. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, 23 April, at North Cross United Methodist Church, 1321 NE Vivion Road, Kansas City, MO. A service of committal and entombment will take place 10:00 AM on Wednesday, 27 April at the Fairview Cemetery in Albemarle, North Carolina.

Born as Mildred Catherine Harris in Anson County, North Carolina, on 9 February 1920, Kae lived in Portsmouth, Virginia, the first 13 years. When her family returned to North Carolina to establish a farm outside Wingate during the Great Depression, she entered and later graduated as class valedictorian from Wingate High School in 1937. She then enrolled at Woman’s College, University of North Carolina, in Greensboro, graduating in 1941 with a bachelor’s in business administration. That same year, she accepted a position as a government stenographer in the U.S. Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, DC, attaining several promotions that would lead to the position of secretary to the admiral’s office. There she handled sensitive and high-level personnel matters during World War II.

In 1944, she met Walter Robert “Bob” Berger, Jr., an Army pilot flying B-25s in the South Pacific. They had been childhood playmates at her grandfather’s farm near Oakboro, North Carolina. In October, they married in Hyattsville, Maryland, outside Washington, DC.

After the war, they were stationed nearly 3 years in Germany, where Bob flew 244 missions for the Berlin Airlift. Their first son, Paul Edward, was born in 1947 in Berlin. Their second son, Neil Harris, was born in 1952 in Dayton, Ohio. While Bob served in the Air Force, the family moved to California, the Philippines, and finally Washington state. Bob retired as a major from the Air Force in 1959 and accepted a position in Kansas City with the Federal Aviation Administration, retiring in 1986. Kae was employed at Farmland Industries as an executive secretary, retiring in 1986 after 23 years of service.

Kae was always active in volunteer organizations including the Red Cross as a Gray Lady while an officer’s wife, the Retired Officers’ Association in Kansas City, and the Northland Shepherd’s Center in Kansas City. She was also a member of North Cross United Methodist Church, the American Association of University Women, the American Business Women’s Association, Beta Sigma Phi Sorority, and Daughters of the American Revolution.

Throughout her life, she traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. She enjoyed genealogy research, as well as many hobbies that included ceramics, china painting, crocheting, embroidery, painting, and writing. She was a self-taught pianist and passed on to her sons a love of classical and popular music.

Kae was a strong, independent, spirited, and charming woman. After her husband passed away in 1994, she continued to maintain the family home alone until the last two years of her life when she became a resident at New Mark Care Center in Kansas City.

She was preceded in death by her father Benjamin Franklin Harris (1892 to 1966), her mother Carrie Alma Edwards (1899 to 1985), her husband Walter Robert Berger, Jr. (1919 to 1994). She is survived by son Paul Edward Berger of Seattle, step-granddaughter Sherolyn Love, grandson Nathan Edward and his son Jacob Silas; and by son Neil Harris Berger of Washington, DC.

Charitable contributions may be made to Northland Shepherd’s Center via www.shepherdscenternorth.org or to North Cross United Methodist Church.