Kate lost her mother when she was just 15 years old. Her father was a bishop and an important leader in the Church of the United Brethren, and the loss of his wife was a severe blow not only emotionally but professionally. He was expected to travel a great deal -- at one point in his career, he was bishop over all the congregations of Brethren west of the Mississippi River. When he was traveling, he relied on his wife to run the household. When he was home, he entertained church elders, visiting ministers, and other professional acquaintances constantly and needed her help. Fifteen-year-old Kate stepped into the role of hostess and head of the Wright household.

The three youngest Wright children, Wilbur, Orville, and Kate, were especially close. At some point in their youth -- history is uncertain when -- they entered into a pact never to marry and always stay together. Kate apparently had her share of gentleman suitors and admirers. One of aviators who the Wright brothers taught to fly once described her as having "coal black hair, deep blue eyes, and a smile that could blind you." She was very outgoing and comfortable engaging anyone in conversation, in contrast to her shy and sometimes withdrawn brothers. Nonetheless, she remained unmarried until she was well into her fifties, possibly because of her pact with her brothers, possibly because she felt a sense of duty to her family.

Kate was the only one of the Wright children to finish college. She attended Oberlin College, a teacher's college in Ohio. After she graduated, she took a job at Steele High School in Dayton, Ohio, teaching classical literature. She remained head of the Wright household, although she hired a maid, Carrie Grumbach, to help with cooking and cleaning. She was a high school teacher all during the years when the Wright brothers invented the airplane (1899 to 1905). Contrary to several popular myths, she did not loan them money, sew the wing coverings, or help them with the math necessary to design their airplanes. Will and Orv made sufficient money from their bicycle business to finance their flying experiments and Wilbur was a much better seamstress than Katharine. She was good in math, but she had little formal training -- it was her mother Susan that had graduated first in her class in math and science, and this may be where the myth comes from.

Kate was a great deal of help, however. While her brothers were perfecting their powered flying machine at Huffman Prairie outside Dayton, Ohio, she would round up her fellow teachers to come out and help with the experiments. The aircraft and the launching mechanism were too large for the Wright brothers to handle on their own.

In 1908, Orville was demonstrating the first military airplane to the U.S. Signal Corps when a propeller broke and caused a disastrous crash. Orville's passenger was killed and Orville had massive injuries -- a broken hip, broken ribs, sprained back, and a concussion. Kate took emergency leave from her teaching job and went to Orville's side in a Washington, DC hospital. At the time, she thought her leave was temporary, but she never went back to teaching.

As Orville convalesced, Kate took care of his affairs in Washington. She soon became familiar with her brothers' business affairs and the new science of aviation. Wilbur, meanwhile, was in France showing off another airplane. He was extremely concerned about Orville and asked Kate to bring Orville over to Europe when he was well enough to travel. Kate and Orville joined Wilbur in Pau, France early in 1909. While there, she began to organize Wilbur's social affairs, which were a mess. Neither Wilbur nor Orville, because they were so shy, were any good at schmoozing the people who could buy their airplanes. Kate provided the social chemistry the Wrights needed to make their enterprise work, and she soon had the French eating out of her hands. European newspapers called her the "third Wright brother" in jest, but the comment showed just how important they thought she was to their efforts. When the Wrights left France, the French awarded all three of them -- Katharine included -- the Legion of Honor. She remains one of the few American women to have received this award.

Back in Dayton, Ohio, the Wrights were flush with success and their home became a busy place. Kate and Carrie had their hands full entertaining important visitors from all over the world who would stop by to discuss aviation matters with Wilbur or Orville. Kate was also deeply involved in the Wrights' new airplane manufacturing business, the Wright Company. When you bought a share of stock in the company, it wasn't signed by Wilbur and Orville. It was signed by Orville and Katharine! When Wilbur died in 1912, she became an officer in the company.

Kate continue to be the mistress of the Wright home, even after Orville sold the Wright Company in 1915 and their father, Bishop Milton Wright, died in 1917. She and her brother moved into a mansion they called Hawthorne Hill, just south of Dayton. Orville was still an important man in aviation, a member of several important national organizations such as the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA, the forerunner of NASA). Hawthorne Hill hosted important people constantly, and Katharine provided the social skills that made their visit pleasant.

In the 1920s, Katharine was serving on the advisory board of Oberlin College when she found herself attending meetings with an old college flame, Henry Haskell. Henry had made a name for himself in journalism and had worked his way up to editor and part owner of the The Kansas City Star. Henry had also lost his wife, a one-time friend of Kate's. They began to exchange letters and soon a romance blossomed. Kate kept this romance a secret from Orville, however. She knew he would feel threatened by it. Orville depended on her to provide a social interface with the world. Without her, he would have to deal with people directly. Even after all these years and the acclamation he had received as co-inventor of the airplane, he was so painfully shy that this was unthinkable for him. Besides that, she was his best friend.

In 1926, Kate decide to marry Henry Haskell and told Orville. His reaction was worse than she feared. He went through alternate fits of rage and depression. He refused to attend the wedding ceremony, and Henry and Kate moved to Kansas City without him saying a word to them. She tried many times to reconcile with her brother, but Orville ignored her. Then, just two years after she married, she contracted pneumonia. Even then Orville would not write or call. When it became obvious that she was going to die, Orville's older brother Lorin finally convinced Orville to visit her. Orville traveled to Kansas City in time to be with Katharine when she died on March 3, 1929.

Katharine Wright, age 4.

Katharine in elementary school, 1884 (seated, bottom row, second from right).

Katharine in high school.

Katharine graduating from Oberlin College.

Katherine about 1900.

Katharine Wright as a high school teacher.

Katherine escorting Orville across the Atlantic, 1908.

Katharine with Orville, Wilbur, and dignitaries in Pau, France, 1908.

Katharine ready to fly with Wilbur.

Katharine charming European royalty.

Katharine at the homecoming celebration in Dayton, Ohio in 1909.

Katharine ready to fly with Orville in a Wright Model HS, 1915.