Kate Smeed Cross

Katherine Smeed Cross (November 18, 1859 - September 11, 1943) was an American social leader.

[1] In 1876, she returned to Philadelphia and devoted herself industriously to the study of music, art and the great exhibition.

[1] She was an efficient officer of nearly every art, musical and literary circle of Emporia and was a staunch church woman, a member of the Episcopal Church.

[1] Some of the finest classic musical entertainments given in Emporia were given under her direction, she herself taking leading parts in such operas as the Bohemian Girl and showing herself possessed of histrionic ability.

[1] In 1880, she returned to her Kansas home and in that year, she married Charles Sumner Cross (1858-1898), a banker and business man of Emporia, Kansas, where in their home, "Elmwood," the Crosses, with their daughter, Mary Kathryn Cross Gourlay (1885-1980), lived and dispensed hospitality.