Kathy Rice received a Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy from Florida State University and Masters in Special Education from Appalachian State University. A National Board certified teacher, Kathy also received her Education Specialist degree from Mississippi State University. She has taught students with special needs for 38 years and continues to teach with Johnston County Schools. Kathy began playing and directing handbells 15 years ago and has worked with youth, adult, and intergenerational choirs in Greensboro, NC and on the Middle Peninsula in Virginia. She has worked with church music programs most of her life, working with preschool and children’s choirs, adult choirs, and as an organ and piano accompanist. Kathy has directed the handbell choir at First Presbyterian for four years.

Kathy is originally a mid-westerner, born in Missouri, but came to NC in the late 1960s, and despite several moves, she says she seems to keep gravitating back to NC. Kathy has been married to David Rice, a nurse with Community Care of NC, for 39 years. They have two children, Aaron, who is an engineer and lives with his wife Dannielle in Apex, NC, and Sarah Kathryn who is a veterinary technician at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital in Cary, NC. David and Kathy have two grandsons, Alex and Will. Kathy and David also share their home with two Labrador Retrievers, Lucy and Miles Davis. Kathy enjoys spending time with her family and especially her grandchildren. She also enjoys practicing piano, knitting, and gardening.