Born: Paola. Peak’s family moved to Pennsylvania when she was 5.

Family: Husband, Bill, Tonganoxie; son, Chet LaVance, Naples, Fla., and daughter Rachel LaVance from her first marriage. Rachel died 10 years ago.

Occupation: She works part-time at Peruvian Connection and previously was the bookkeeper for 13 years for Pine Family Farms.

Dream job as a child: Peak always was treasurer for various activities in school.

“It was always going to be numbers,” Peak said. “It was going to be bookkeeping of some sort.”

Digging deeper: Peak lived near Upper Black Eddy, Pa., and took accounting classes at nearby colleges.

Her husband is a Tonganoxie City Council member, but Kathy also held an elected office: as an auditor for her Pennsylvania township. She also served on the board and was treasurer at Lake Dabinawa.

Currently, Kathy is Tonganoxie Community Historical Society president and treasurer of the Tonganoxie Learning Club. TLC provides support for Alliance Against Family Violence. She also is president of the First City Performers And Story Tellers and has portrayed Mollie Myers, Susan B. Anthony and others through PAST.

“It totally was outside my comfort zone that I decided to try it and found out I really liked it,” Peak said.

Kathy and Bill have been married 20 years. She said they and their families have known each other their entire lives. Both families had ties to both Pennsylvania and Paola.

“‘You know, I think it’s time we got married,'” Kathy recalled Bill saying.

She told him, “Be careful, because I’m looking for a husband.”

They had a long-distance relationship for several months before getting married.

The couple likes to travel. Kathy has visited 44 states and plans to visit the remaining six.