An Interview with
Kathryn Coram Gagnon

Excerpt from: Voices of Rondo: Oral Histories of Saint Paul’s Historic Black Community

Syren Books, September 2005

Part IV - The Soul of Rondo

We talked about music in the community. I think music is an expression of the soul of the community. It has the capability of unifying, it has capability of soothing, it has the capability of providing solace. I think it’s important for every community. I think it’s an important piece of life that we all deal with basic rhythms and we hear music all the time, whether we recognize it or not. I think one of the things that the music actually allowed us to do was to have a focus when gathering together and a reason for gathering.

No matter what the age group, no matter what income level, no matter what the educational level, that there was an opportunity for people to share and to be one. People will go to these churches just to hear a sermon, and when they do go hear the sermon it’s because the sermon is music. If you listen to some of the Southern Baptist preachers, they don’t talk, they don’t orate, they sing their service. And so you may not feel like going to church, but you can have church come to you through the opportunity to sing and to listen to music.

Last horse-drawn vegetable vendor on Rondo

There was vibrancy in Rondo, there was a community, there was a sense of—you know, they talk this stuff about a village raising kids. That’s what it was. We didn’t call it that. It was just that you knew that if you were a part of that community there were people who cared about you. They cared whether you acted like you had sense. It was a warm, accepting place. It was a place with contrasts. There were people there who were on welfare and people who were considered professionals. It was a place where you felt really and truly safe.

Kathryn Coram Gagnon, the single parent for twenty-five years of Lori, Philippe, and Angelique, was a lifelong member of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. Besides growing up at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, Inc., she went on to be chairperson of its board. She was the first Black person to graduate from University High School. Receiving a four-year scholarship, she attended Mount Holyoke College and then earned a master’s in theater, a master’s in social work, and was ABD in educational administration from the University of Minnesota. After thirty years in the Saint Paul Public Schools, Kathryn retired, having served as the assistant principal of five schools. She was a Bush Leadership fellow and was involved with the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs for Leadership Effective Schools. An accomplished singer, and a member of Actors Equity, she appeared in front of audiences all over the country from Massachusetts to Texas to Minnesota at Orchestra Hall and the Ordway. Kathryn was a lifelong respected and beloved community leader.

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