Katie O'Pace McCauliff

1951 - 2019

Katie O'Pace McCauliff

Las Vegas, NV - 10/27/51 - 3/15/19

Born Katie O'Pace in Santa Monica, California, Katie was the epitome of the term "California Girl." Her father, Leslie O'Pace was talent scout and test director for 20th Century Fox and her mother, Marilyn became executive secretary for the Southern California PGA. She was the captain of the cheerleading squad at Alemany High School in the San Fernando Valley and it was every summer day that she and her girl friends were at Santa Monica or Malibu beaches. In her senior year of high school she began a modeling career and was selected for a LIFE magazine cover and story entitled "Summer Sun and California Girls." That particular issue was one of the few Life magazines that were totally sold out at newsstands. Shortly after her appearance of that cover she was selected by the congenial "unofficial" Mayor of Hollywood and LA television personality Johnny Grant to accompany him and four other starlets on two USO tours in Viet Nam and although they did hook up with the Bob Hope Show in DaNang, for the most part the group spent most of the time visiting the front line fire support bases and hospitals. Because of the publicity of her Life Cover Katie was getting a number of calls for acting jobs in Hollywood particularly at Universal Studios, which happened to be across the street from the So Cal PGA office where her mother worked. She assisted her mom while waiting for studio call ups and even created the logo for the first World Junior Golf Championships. Being so close to Universal was very fortunate for as she got featured roles in several hit TV shows including "Adam 12," "O'Hara US Treasury." and "Barnaby Jones." She also had a featured role in the made for TV movie "The President's Plane is Missing." It was during this time that Katie met and married Gene McCauliff, Tournament Director of the LPGA. Shortly after their marriage Gene was offered a position in Palm Springs where he had directed the Colgate Dinah Shore LPGA tourney. And, so off she went to live in the beautiful Coachella Valley and as Hollywood was now quite a distance away, Katie immersed her herself in other activities including theatre. She soon was a active member of the Valley Players Guild appearing and starring a number of musical productions and got starring roles at the venerable MCallum Theatre in such diverse productions as "Mid Summer Nights Dream" and "Chorus Line." With a passion for dance, She taught at the College of the Desert. Katie became interested in children's musical theatre and created MUSICKIDS, an award winning program for children from 5 to 14. Some of these "Kids" went on to become stars in their own rights on the silver screen and on Broadway. Not that Katie wasn't busy enough, but she founded Hospitality Sweet a corporate events support company with clients such as Colgate, Nabisco, and Newsweek with tie-ins to major professional golf and tennis tourneys. Then Gene took a position as a casino executive in Las Vegas and in her desire to be with packed up and with their young son, Kedy were off to the bright lights. Katie wanted to establish MusicKids in Las Vegas but was thwarted by year round school curriculum that was in effect at the time. But Katie had to be active and so shortly after arriving in Las Vegas she went to work for Hallmark Marketing and later Advantage International. Katie is survived her husband of 47 years and her son Kedy Sean.

The family has set up a GoFundMe account in Katie O'Pace McCauliff's name for medical and funeral expenses.