White House Historical Association

Katherine Buckley

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"Katherine Buckley," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/736.
Position
Cook
Years in President's House
1926 – 1933
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Biography
Katherine "Kathy" Buckley was born on March 9, 1885, in Listowel, Ireland.1 As a teenager, she left school to work in the kitchen of the Butler Arms Hotel in Waterville, Ireland. In the early 1900s, American banker J.P. Morgan visited the hotel, where Kathy had become head cook, and was so impressed with her cooking that he invited her to work for him in the United States. While working for Morgan, she cooked for many notable guests, including future president Calvin Coolidge, who remembered her skill when he later assumed the presidency.2 After Morgan died in 1913, Kathy continued to cook in prominent households and became a naturalized citizen in 1917. In 1926, First Lady Grace Coolidge invited her to join the White House kitchen staff.3 As a White House cook, Kathy prepared meals for the first family, foreign dignitaries, and other distinguished guests. However, her most challenging dish was, surprisingly, pancakes. When she initially served silver dollar-style pancakes to the Coolidge family, President Calvin Coolidge came into the kitchen holding a cast iron skillet, demanding they be made the "Vermont way": large and thin. Buckley quickly adapted to his preferences.4 Kathy continued her White House service through 1933, when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt replaced some of the staff with her own.5 Afterward, Kathy continued cooking for affluent families until retiring in 1952.6 She returned to Ireland to live with her sisters, Nora and Tessie, who ran a small grocery shop.7 Katherine Buckley died on June 19, 1969, in Ireland.8 In 2015, Ireland dedicated her family home as a historic site with a plaque that states, “Home to Kathy White House Buckley, Cook to 3 U.S. Presidents 1885-1969.”9
  1. “Katherine Mary Buckley” Ancestry.com, accessed April 8, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/186402655/person/112441570545/facts?_phsrc=pzr259&_phstart=successSource.
  2. Sharon Ní Chonchúir, “Kathy White House,” Irish America, December 3, 2015, https://www.irishamerica.com/2015/12/kathy-white-house-3/.
  3. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Servants and Aides, 1929–1933, box 167, folder 5, digitized April 8, 2015; Vincent Carmody, “Kathy White House,” IrishCentral, February 27, 2024, https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/kathy-white-house.
  4. “The President Asks Chef Kathy for Help,” Special Exhibitions, The Inn of the Patriots, accessed April 8, 2025, https://theinnofthepatriots.com/special-exhibitions.
  5. Vincent Carmody, “Kathy White House,” IrishCentral, February 27, 2024, https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/kathy-white-house.
  6. Vincent Carmody, “Kathy White House,” IrishCentral, February 27, 2024, https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/kathy-white-house; “Katherine Mary Buckley” Ancestry.com, accessed April 8, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/186402655/person/112441570545/facts?_phsrc=pzr259&_phstart=successSource.
  7. Kay Caball, “Kerry Girls in the White House 1930,” My Kerry Ancestors, March 12, 2021, https://mykerryancestors.com/kerry-girls-in-the-white-house-1930/.
  8. “Katherine Mary Buckley” Ancestry.com, accessed April 8, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/186402655/person/112441570545/facts?_phsrc=pzr259&_phstart=successSource.
  9. Vincent Carmody, Kathy White House: Kathy Buckley, Her Culinary Odyssey (Vincent Carmody, 2023) 46.
Birthplace
Listowel, Ireland
Ireland
Related Workers
Hannah Heffernan
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1926 – circa 1930
Mary Heffernan
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1926 – 1931
Margaret Sullivan
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1931 – 1933
Nellie Lynch
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1931 – 1933
Louise W. Jongbloet
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1925 – 1926