Katherine married Joseph Burgum from Arthur, North Dakota, on April 8, 1944. Joe and Katherine had been ollege sweethearts at NDAC, where they worked together on the college year book. Katherine was editor, and Joe had said he applied to be staff photographer so Katherine would now that he was around and always available when she needed him. After the attack on Pearl Harbor interrupted Joe studies at the University of Minnesota Law School, he enlisted in the Navy and served as an officer on the Destroyer USS Wren during WWII. After the war, the couple moved back to Arthur, where Joe joined the family grain business. It was in Arthur that Joe and Katherine started their family. Son Bradley was born in 1952, daughter Barbara in 1953, and another son, Douglas in 1956.