Kate Wilhelm

1928 - 2018

Kate Wilhelm (Knight)

June 8, 1928 -

March 8, 2018

American author, Kate Wilhelm (Knight), passed away on Thursday, March 8, in Eugene, Oregon. She was a renowned author, educator, and mentor, a loving mother, a friend to many, an expert gardener, and an excellent cook.

Born to Jesse and Ann Meredith in Toledo, Ohio on June 8, 1928, Katie Gertrude Meredith had a passion for storytelling from an early age and would tell her sister and brothers stories, while her parents were at work. After moving to Louisville, Kentucky, Kate worked in different jobs, including switchboard operator, model, and clothing store clerk. She met Joseph Wilhelm at a roller skating rink, and they married in 1947. A voracious reader, Kate would spent hours every week in the Public Library returning home with a stack of books, some for her, the rest for her two sons.

Kate and her family lived on Star Lane in Louisville, significant for its hilltop observatory, built by University of Louisville astronomer Dr. Walter Moore. Dr. Moore regularly invited Kate and her family to view planets, galaxies, and other celestial objects through the observatory's 21" reflector telescope. Kate said this experience opened her eyes to a "wider universe," which she would soon explore in her own writing.

Kate believed she could write more engaging stories than those she was reading, and in 1956, her first short story, "The Pint-Sized Genie," was published, followed in 1963 by her first novel, More Bitter Than Death, a mystery. Importantly, 1963 was also the year Kate married her second husband, science fiction author, critic, and editor Damon Knight (1922-2002) and moved to Milford, Pennsylvania. During her career, her writing spanned many genres, including science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy and magical realism, psychological suspense, mystery, non-fiction, essay, radio plays, and a multimedia stage production. In all, she wrote more than 50 novels and hundreds of shorter works from short stories to novellas. Her stories have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Through the decades, she received numerous awards, including three Nebulas, two Hugos, two Locus, plus a Jupiter, Spotted Owl, Prix Apollo, and the prestigious Solstice Award, which has been renamed the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award, in her honor. Kate was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2003 for her lifetime contribution to the genre.

Kate and Damon provided invaluable assistance to numerous other writers over the years. They taught for several decades, and many of their students are now well-known names in literature. Together, they helped to establish the Milford Writer's Conference and the Clarion Writer's Workshop, lectured at universities in North and South America and Asia, and were guests of honor and panelists at numerous writers' conventions around the world. After Damon's passing, Kate continued to host monthly workshops in her home in Eugene, Oregon, and she remained a staunch advocate for public libraries. In 2012, she, along with family members, founded InfinityBox Press, LLC, which continues to publish her work.

Kate is survived by six children, Douglas Wilhelm, Richard Wilhelm, Jonathan Knight, Valerie Knight Olney, Christopher Knight, and Leslie Saulsbury.

Arrangements are entrusted to Musgrove Family Mortuary. Please access the obituary, where you are invited to sign the guestbook at musgroves.com.