Kate Lee Harris Adams

Adams was born Katherine Lee Harris in Durham, North Carolina on September 5, 1919, to Arthur Miller Harris, a city councilman, and Kate Lee Hundley, a homemaker and former schoolteacher. She attended Duke University, where she graduated in 1941 with a degree in fine arts. == Women Airforce Service Pilots ==

While a student at Duke University, she took a Civilian Pilot Training Program course, where only one woman was accepted for every ten men accepted, and traveled from Durham to Raleigh to take flying lessons at a local airfield. Upon completion of the training program, she received a private pilot's license. In 1977, she and other members of the service were granted veteran status. After her death, she and the other members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their service during the war. == Personal life and death ==

Adams met Lieutenant Robert Adams, a U.S. Air Force officer, while working at Napier Field. They married and, after the end of World War II, moved to Kansas City, where they lived for eight years, followed by Houston, where they lived for fifty-four years. She was an active member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Following her husband's death in 1999, she moved back to Durham. She went on vacation to China and was a member of one of the first tour groups to be allowed into the country under Communist rule. Adams died on December 2, 2002, at Croasdaile Methodist Retirement Home in Durham. Her funeral was held at her childhood church, Trinity United Methodist Church. She was buried in Maplewood Cemetery. == References ==