Today's Wonderful WCC Woman is Kat Braden

WONDERFUL WCC WOMAN is all about the amazing women that are members of the Woman's Club of Concord...

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Kat married her husband Larry and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1973.  While there, she gave birth to her son and daughter and finished her M.A. in Classics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  When her children were water safe, she learned to surf her ten-foot board, Betsy.  They left the islands for a more accepting society for her children here in New England at St. Paul’s School.  She made her mark at the school designing and sewing costumes for Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado, opening the school’s Mishop Thrift Shop, and hosting athletic teas.  She does miss surfing.

 As publicity and minor lead fairy for the Northern New England Victorian Society’s Iolanthe production, Kat was asked to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of the Pierce Manse where she fell in love with the Brigade members.  She became a member then and has loved every minute of her involvement there.  One of the members of the Brigade sponsored her into the Woman’s Club of Concord and another nominated her for president for the very special term of our 100th anniversary.

During that term, Kat enrolled in the 1995-6 class of Leadership Concord.  She has loved meeting the wonderful people associated with that class, The Chamber of Commerce, the NH Historical Society, and her church affiliations in Dunbarton at St. John’s Episcopal and now at the East Congregational Church in Concord.  Kat taught Latin for over ten years at Bow HS and one at Nashua North.  She has studied at the American Academy in Rome and the American School for Classical Studies in Athens.  She treasures friendships with wonderful students and cheers them on in their accomplishments as they grow and prosper.  She enjoyed working with ETS for the National Certification in Latin judging and the developing of the new Latin Praxis exam.  She is proud of her two state championship teams in the Latin Certamen and her third place two-man team in the multi-state competition at UNH.  She took three wonderful groups for life-altering trips to Italy in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

Since retiring, Kat enjoys giving tours at the Pierce Manse, ushering at the Capitol Center for the Arts, reading, entertaining, and keeping in touch with friends and her two precious strong intelligent granddaughters. Her son George is in charge of a food pantry in Arlington VA and tutors ESL students.  Her daughter-in-law Anne is with the Pentagon.  Her daughter Abbey is a radio show host for Virgin Mobile every weekday and is married to Simon Raymonde, owner/producer of Bella Union, the top recording label in the UK.  She recently joined the board of Back In The Saddle Equestrian Therapy Center in Hopkinton, they do amazing work with people from 2-92, including veterans with PTSD.  A hobby is writing articles and letters for the Monitor where she has been designated a contributing editor.  Her biggest claim to fame in the WCC is sponsoring Linda Graham as a member!

 She was thrilled to be the story lady for the CCA last Midnight Merriment.