Katherine Walker

Katherine Walker (née Katharina Görtler; November 25, 1848 – February 5, 1931) was a German-American lighthouse keeper. Walker tended the Robbins Reef Light in New York Harbor for more than 30 years after the death of her husband, Captain John Walker, who had been appointed keeper of the light in 1885. Katherine Walker was appointed the official keeper of the light by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, four years after her husband's death. During her tenure she rescued 50 or more sailors from shipwrecks. 2Early life Walker was born in Rumbach, Germany, to Friedrich and Susanna Görtler. She married Joseph Kaird and they had a son, Jacob, in 1875, but Kaird died shortly after. In 1882, the widow and her young son immigrated to the United States. 2Sandy Hook Walker settled in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where she got a job as a cook in a boarding house. There she met Captain John Walker, a retired sea captain who was the keeper of the Sandy Hook Light. He offered to give Katherine English lessons, though his own English was not perfec