dependent on Katharine. While continuing to manage the household, she looked after his social schedule, correspondence, and business engagements along with his salaried secretary, Mabel Beck. She also played an active behind-the-scenes role in Orville’s decades-long struggle with the Smithsonian Institution to gain appropriate recognition for the Wright Brothers’ invention. As Orville’s consort, Katharine attended many formal ceremonies and aviation events, such the International Air Races in St. Louis in 1923 and Dayton in 1924. In September 1922, they helped the Wright Aeronautical Company christen the Wilbur Wright flying boat, designed by aviation pioneer Grover Loening, and participated in its maiden flight over the Hudson River. At the launch, Katharine and Orville were photographed standing beside Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, whose professional relationship with the youngest Wright brother led to a brief but intense emotional entanglement with Katharine in the early 1920s, as documented in their extensive correspondence. Prominent in Dayton society, Katharine was an active member of the Helen Hunt Club, a women’s literary group; president of the Young Women’s League; and a supporter of other civic organizations. She was also the moving force behind the Oberlin Alumni Association in Dayton and served as her class secretary for many years. In 1923, she was elected to the Oberlin College board of trustees and served her alma mater in that capacity from 1924 until her death in 1929. As only the third female trustee in Oberlin’s history, she exerted a strong influence in areas such as faculty and presidential appointments, building plans, and academic freedom. Marriage, later life, and death Over the years Katharine stayed in touch with newspaperman Henry (Harry) J. Haskell, a close friend from her college days who had once tutored her in math. Associate editor (later editor) of the Kansas City Star, Haskell lived in Kansas City, Missouri, where Katharine and Orville visited him on several occasions. (Their older brother Reuchlin and his family also lived in Kansas City.) Haskell was one of a handful of influential journalists who spearheaded the campaign to vindicate the Wright brothers in their dispute with the Smithsonian. After his wife’s death in 1923, he and Katharine began a long-distance romance that was conducted primarily through letters. Although her secret fiancé and Orville had long been friends, Katharine was apprehensive about her brother’s likely reaction to their marriage. Her fears were borne out when Haskell belatedly broke the news to Orville: