Catherine “Kitty” Frances Gair (nee, Smulling) was born Nov. 4, 1912, in Altoona, PA. After graduating from Jefferson Medical College Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1934, she received a Public Health Nurse Certificate in 1939. She earned a B.S. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1943, and a Master of Science in Child Psychiatric Nursing from Boston University in 1963.

Catherine Smulling came to Alaska in 1942 and served as a public health nurse for the Alaska Health Dept. from 1942-1945. She worked from 1946 to 1951 on the Alaska Territorial Health Department vessel, M/V Hygiene, providing health care to Alaskan coastal villages. She worked at the Juneau Health Center from 1951 to 1954 and part time at the Alaska Native Health Service. Gair was a school nurse in Juneau from 1964-1971, retiring in 1971. She was a member of the Alaska State Hospital Advisory Board, member and president of the Juneau Hospital Board, member of the Governor’s Advisory Board on Alcoholism, President of the Alaska Nurses Association, District III, board member, secretary, vice president and then president of the Alaska Nurses Association, treasurer and secretary of the Mt. Juneau Chapter, National Society Daughters of American Revolution and Worthy Matron, Nugget Chapter 2, Order of Eastern Star.

She co-wrote Alaska's Search for a Killer: 1946 -1948 A Seafaring Medical Adventure describing the experience of working on the Hygiene. From 1969 to 1972 she edited Alaska Nurse. She published articles in the Alaska Nurse, Journal of School Health, and the Juneau Empire. She died at her Wasilla home in 2002.