Kathee grew up in Valley Stream and attended the Catholic schools there. She earned her BS from Siena College in Marketing and Management and worked in advertising for 30 years. She and her husband, Joe Gonzalez, have lived in East Hampton for 20 years, first in Montauk where they were married, and now in Springs. They are the proud parents of Burke, a freshman at The Ohio State University, and Nina, a junior at East Hampton High School.
Kathee is the former president of the Springs School Board having been elected to the board in 2004 and re-elected in 2007 and 2010. She chaired the communications committee, the budget committee, and audit committee of the school board, negotiated and ratified five union agreements, and worked to save more than four million dollars for Springs taxpayers, while delivering a steadily improving education for the children.