Director and Conductor
Kathleen W. Yeater

Kathleen Yeater served as the Director of Orchestras and string specialist in the Southern York County School District for the 32 years.  Her teaching responsibilities included students in grades 3 thru 12.  During her tenure, the Susquehannock High School Orchestra and the Susquehannock String Quartet were selected to perform at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association State Conference several times. Mrs. Yeater’s students were frequent members of the PMEA District 7, Region IV/V and PA All-State Orchestras.  During the years of the alternating of National and All-Eastern States Orchestras, there were 10 consecutive years that at least one of her Susquehannock students was in each of these higher level orchestras.  No other school in the state of PA had such a record.  Many of Mrs. Yeater’s students remain active musicians; working as teachers, performers, or both.

Mrs. Yeater is a graduate of West York High School, and of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  She is currently in her sixteenth year as director of the York Junior Symphony Orchestra.  The York Junior Symphony has performed at the PMEA conference under her direction.  The orchestra has also placed first on many occasions, receiving Superior ratings at competitions.  Mrs. Yeater directed the St. Matthew Lutheran Sunday School Orchestra for 20 years.  She served 16 years on the board of the York Youth Symphony Orchestra. She plays violin with the York Symphony Orchestra, has served as personnel coordinator for the York Symphony Orchestra, and is first violinist in the Salem String Quartet.

In 1996, Mrs. Yeater received the National School Orchestra Director of the Year Award.  This award, given by the National School Orchestra Association, is presented to one individual in the nation each year.  She is past president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National School Orchestra Association.  Mrs. Yeater is a recipient of the Citation of Excellence given by the Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Association.  She has received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the South Central PA Joint Council for School Improvement.  In 2000, Mrs. Yeater was selected by the School Band and Orchestra magazine as the Outstanding Music Educator for the state of Pennsylvania. 

In 2003, Mrs. Yeater was honored by PADESTA/NSOA as the recipient of the Outstanding Orchestra Director in the states of Pennsylvania and Delaware.  The Rodney Miller Distinguished Service Award, presented by PMEA District 7, was awarded to Mrs. Yeater  in 2009.  She is currently serving as President-elect of PADESTA (Pennsylvania/Delaware Chapter of American String Teachers Association).

Mrs. Yeater and her husband Bob live in York. They are the parents of four daughters and have three granddaughters.