Katherine
S. Gerwick (February 12, 1882 - May 14, 1927) was the international secretary of the YWCA. Partner Lucy Randolph Mason
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Greenwood Cemetery
Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, USA
Katherine
S. Gerwick (February 12, 1882 - May 14, 1927) was the international secretary of the YWCA.
She was born and reared in Zanesville and was active in social and church affairs there until 1919 when she went to New York City. Lucy Randolph Mason (1882–1959) was a member of the Equal Suffrage League, advocating for the vote for both white and black women and believed that unions were a powerful tool to help improve the lives of women, specifically the working conditions. Like many women who advocated for progressive causes during that period, her closest relationships were with other women; her primary relationship was with Gerwick.
Early in the 1920s, Mason met Gerwick, a national YWCA officer who became her soulmate. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that after a conference in September 1925, the two women "spent several weeks camping near Frankfprt, Michigan." Gerwick's death from a sudden illness in 1927 plunged Mason into an extended period of mourning and resulted in her full embrace of spiritualist beliefs that she had also learned from her mother. Though notably lacking in personal correspondence, Mason's papers include scattered notes about séances she attended as well as a few letters she wrote to Gerwick, "Beloved of my heart," years after her passing.
Gerwick died in New York City following a brief illness. She is buried at Greenwood Cemetery.
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