Ken Cowan, Palmer’s Artist-in-Residence and Organist, is Associate Professor and head of the organ program at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He has also served on the organ faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey.
Ken has recorded on the Pro Organo, JAV, and Etheral recording labels, and many of his recordings and live performances have been featured on NPR. He received a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven, Connecticut, and his Bachelor of Music degree from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a church musician, he has held posts as Artist-in-Residence and Organist at Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City and as Assistant Organist at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.
The Reverend Katherine Tuttle is the Director of Parish Life at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church and is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. What she loves most about ministry is creating spaces for relationship-building, meaning-making, storytelling, and ritual—rooted in our shared call to love and serve our neighbors.
Prior to joining Palmer, Katherine served as a Resident Minister at Georgetown University and Loyola Marymount University. At both institutions, she lived in student housing with her family to help foster deep community, hospitality, and a sense of belonging among residents. Her experience accompanying college students, along with her work as a hospital chaplain, shapes her hope that people of diverse backgrounds will find a true home at Palmer.
Katherine lives in Houston with her husband, Jake, a professor of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, and their two young children. In her free time, she enjoys baking bread, walking, reading, spending time with her family, and playing the ukulele—enthusiastically, if not skillfully. She loves exploring Houston and is always eager to meet Palmers in their favorite corners of this vibrant city.