Katherine was born on May 21, 1924 in Camden, New Jersey, where she lived her first 20 years. Her father, Alexander Louco was an immigrant from Italy who served in the US military and then worked in the Camden shipyards.  Her mother, Janie Louco grew up in South Carolina before marrying Alexander. Katherine had one younger sibling, a brother named Alexander.

She attended grade school in Fairview, New Jersey (a suburb of Camden) and graduated from Camden High School in 1942.  She grew up attending Fairview Baptist Church and was active in Sunday school and church.  She remembered making a public profession of her faith in a Sunday evening service on March 17, 1937 even though she said she remembered nothing about the sermon, she wanted to settle the question of her salvation in her own mind.  She loved to sing (solo and in groups), play the piano and teach Sunday school.  All through high school she dreamed of attending Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois and then becoming a missionary.   She worked as a secretary for a few years before finally having the door open for her to start classes at Moody.  She studied the Missionary/Music curriculum and graduated from Moody in 1947. While at Moody she earned money for school by singing on Moody's radio station (WMBI).  It was here that she met her future husband, Paul A. Buyse.

Upon graduation from Moody, Katherine went to work with the North Arkansas Gospel Mission in north central Arkansas for about one year.  She and Paul were married in 1948 after he graduated from Moody.  Together they worked in Arkansas for another year.  They joined AIM towards the end of that time and moved to Minnesota in 1950 to begin raising support and preparing to go to Africa.  Paul served as the pastor of a church in Garden City, Minnesota during that year.

Katherine and Paul had four children: three boys and a girl. Tim the oldest was born in 1949 in Harrison, Arkansas. The other three children were born in the Belgian Congo. Janie was born in 1953 at Oicha, went to heaven in 1955 and her earthly body was buried at Oicha. Larry was born in 1956 at Oicha. Philip was born in 1960 at Rethy.

They left for Africa to serve with AIM in the Belgian Congo in 1952. They worked together in Africa for the next thirty-seven years, serving the Lord at the small remote stations at Biasiko and Lalia, intermediate size stations at Mwenda and Blukwa, and large stations at Oicha and Rethy as well as for a short time at Kijabe, Kenya during one of the evacuations from the newly independent Congo.

Katherine went to Africa to fulfill a definite calling that she felt, yet having no idea what she would be doing.  She had a full time job running the home and raising four children.  Even with limited time, she was always involved with the church and with women's programs.  Her ministries began to flourish after the boys left home.  She had a real talent for entertaining guests and she soon became "station hostess" at every place they were stationed.  This entailed housing and feeding tired travelers who could arrive at any time day or night.  When they moved to Rethy, she also became involved with teaching piano and directing the choirs at Rethy Academy.  Her passion was always for working with African women at each of her stations.  While at Rethy, she became involved with the "Women of the Good News" program that was just introduced in Congo.  The program consisted of: weekly meetings, scripture memorization and work projects; the goal of which was to bring women together in solidarity, service and faith.  She became the Rethy district "missionary technician" and worked closely with African women to effectively grow the program and to develop African women leadership for the program.  The program transitioned many years ago into being lead entirely by African women and is still strong and growing to this day.

Paul & Katherine retired from working in Africa in 1989.  Paul spent the next four years helping in the accounting office at the AIM headquarters in Pearl River, New York.  In 1992 they moved to the AIM retirement center in Minneola, Florida.

God called Katherine home on October 25, 2018. She is survived by her three sons Timothy (Cynthia), Larry and Philip (Susan), nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Her family requests in lieu of flowers, please donate in her honor to the Buyse Family Scholarship Fund, Congo Initiative, P. O. Box 246, Germantown, WI 53022, or online at https://congoinitiative.org/in-memoriam-katherine-l-buyse/ . (Donations through Congo Initiative are tax-deductible.)