Katharine Gardiner Hale Papers

Katharine Gardiner Hale was born on August 16, 1944, in Grass Valley, California, to Evelyn Norwood Foote and James Francis Gardiner. She graduated from the Katharine Branson School in Ross, California, in 1962 and the Univerisity of Nevada, Reno, in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

Hale was an active member of the northern Nevada community, belonging to the Washoe Zephyr Toastmasters Club, the Sierra Garden Club, a writers' group, and a local artists' salon. Professionally, she was the longtime landlady of the Hale House, an English and art appreciation teacher, tutor, and mentor for disabled students at the Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC). In 1975, she co-founded Citizen Alert, a Nevada non-profit dedicated to public education and governmental accountability on issues such as nuclear waste management, notably at Yucca Mountain; MX missiles; and the effect of nuclear testing. Additionally, Hale was an advocate for preserving history, helping to found the "Save the Mapes" interest group, which eventually became the Truckee Meadows Heritage Trust. She was both a patron of the arts and an artist, producing whimsical recycled plastic constructions, politically-themed dioramas, and black and white photographs.

Hale died of cancer in Reno, Nevada, on October 28, 2021.

[Biographical information taken from Hales' obituary in the Reno Gazette-Journal, accessed online on April 21, 2022.]