Katherine Bowman Rolston Barnes was born in Lookout, Mountain Tennessee on August 17, 1914. She attended Vanderbilt University from 1931-1935 in the college of Arts of Sciences and was a very involved member of the academic community. While in school she was chairman of the Women’s Honor Committee and active in the Y.W.C.A., Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, as well the Scribblers, a women’s writing organization.

After she graduation she married fellow Nashvillian, Melville M. Barnes and continued her love of writings and poetry. Katherine was an active alumna of the Vanderbilt Community often participating in campus events. She wrote many articles for the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, the Nashville Banner, and the Christian Home among others. The first book she wrote, John Rosser: Gentleman of the Old South, was published in 1984.

She was died in Nashville, Tennessee on Friday March 7, 2003.