Katharine Lee Bates

About

Wrote the lyrics to "America the Beautiful" and the poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride" that made Mrs. Santa Claus popular.

Before Fame

She graduated from Wellesley College in 1880 where she later served as full professor of English literature.

Trivia

She was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

Family Life

She never married, but was said to have had a close relationship with Katharine Coman, a teacher with whom she lived.

Associated With

She graduated from the same college as Cokie Roberts.