"Cape Proud" of Kathy McGuiness

"Cape Proud" of Kathy McGuiness

In 1985 Kathy Kramedas McGuiness graduated from Cape Henlopen High School ready to face the world. She left for Florida Institute of Technology to pursue a degree in Biology; however, she knew that she would eventually find her way back to Delaware and Sussex County.

Kathy graduated in five years and then immediately headed to Northeastern in Boston to obtain her degree as a pharmacist. Her extra year at FIT was due to the fact that she undertook a DNA research project in order to arm herself with valuable tools that enabled her to return home and begin her professional career.

She initially worked for Edgehill Pharmacy, but Kathy, a born entrepreneur, quickly decided to purchase Rehoboth Pharmacy in downtown Rehoboth Beach.It was here she realized that she could positively impact our community by becoming involved in local government and the business community.

With the thought of creating a flourishing year-round downtown, Kathy, along with several other community and business owners, founded Rehoboth Beach Main Street in 1996. In fact Kathy was the organizations Founding President. The mission of this organization was clear: focus on creating an inviting and booming year-round downtown economy.

Kathy knew that the outlets on Route One and websites like Amazon threatened the livelihood of small towns all across the country; so she and her peers proactively promoted downtown Rehoboth Beach DE.

In addition, Kathy threw her hat into local politics and became a Rehoboth Beach Commissioner in 2000. She was paramount in getting the Rehoboth Beach new streetscape approved; however, after ten years as a commissioner, she stepped down in 2012 to focus on her three children.

In 2002, Kathy sold the pharmacy to a young couple, and decided to enter the world of real estate. However, the retail “bug” bit her again and in 2003, she opened a boot company called The Bootlegger on Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth Beach.She continued to sell real estate and operate the retail store for some time, but her young growing family ultimately became her focus.

Currently, she still sells real estate as an agent for Jack Lingo REALTOR and is a part-time registered pharmacist. Most recently, Kathy again ran for commissioner and won. She also is currently running for Lieutenant Governor of Delaware.In doing so, she “wants to make her Cape family proud.” She feels her non-profit, business and government experience will enable her to work for every Delawarean.

Throughout Kathy’s life, she has been interested in affecting change through politics. In fact, she was in the student government in high school and in 1985 she was in a Cape Henlopen High School singing and dancing group called “Spirit” that toured the country promoting First Lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign.

At one of these events, she landed on stage with seventeen First Ladies who further inspired the then teenage Kathy’s desire to become actively involved in her community.During her tenure at Cape she was very involved in sports playing basketball and cheerleading. She was also Miss Cape Henlopen.

Her roots in the Cape Henlopen School District run deep as her mother was a longtime teacher for the district and taught with the current assistant superintendent Cathy Petitgout. Kathy is proud to call herself a Cape Henlopen alumnae; in fact it is in the first sentence on her campaign website.

As a community, the fact that Kathy Kramedes McGuiness graduated from CHHS makes all of us “Cape Proud”.

Please visit our Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation (CHEF) website at www.chef-cape.org to learn more about CHEF’s educational partnership with the Cape school district. We invite the entire community to help us achieve our mission of preparing students for a healthy, productive life in a diverse global community.