Karen La Corte, who has hosted numerous charity shows, chosen by
Chamber of Commerce
Gilroy – Karen La Corte sashays to the front door and politely ushers a visitor into her Gilroy home, revealing the interior of golden mirrors and splashes of leopard print.
As she makes her way to the living room, La Corte, decked out in an all-black outfit, smiles widely, a smile that clearly exposes her beauty pageant past. But pageants are a thing of the past for this Gilroy woman.
These days the bubbly brunette spends her time behind the lens, organizing charity fashion shows, celebrity golf tournaments, raising money for various organizations and serving as the Gilroy Garlic Cook-off chair and on the Arts and Culture Commission.
For years, La Corte has been the planner, so when she received a call from the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce informing her that she’d been selected as 2005 Woman of the Year, the news was a bit hard to take.
Usually she’s the one running the show, not the star of it.
“I like doing for others,” said the 52-year-old. “It’s a little bit harder to talk about myself.”
La Corte said she was overwhelmed when she realized that she had actually won and that receiving the award is a supreme honor.
“And I went ‘oh my God,'” she said. “Being nominated would have been enough for me.”
The award may be something new but the reasons behind her victory are not. La Corte followed her parent’s lead, her role models for giving back to their church and the community, by volunteering.
She began her plunge into a life of community service at the age of 16, when she was selected as Miss Gilroy. Later, she also served as Bonanza Days Queen, now called the Gilroy Garlic Festival Queen.
As Miss Gilroy and Bonanza Days Queen, La Corte was an ambassador to the community and volunteered in a variety of capacities. She was also a Mrs. California contestant and model.
La Corte said she learned valuable life skills through those pageants, the time she spent preparing and delivering speeches and the confidence she had to possess just to put herself out there.
“I always say if you can do pageants you can do anything,” she said with that tell-tale smile.
Since her parents were dedicated members of St. Mary Catholic Church and La Corte attended St. Mary School, she was often volunteering at both the church and the school.
Later, when her daughter attended St. Mary, she began chairing the talent show and did so for seven years. La Corte graduated from Notre Dame High School in Salinas and attended Gavilan College before marrying her baseball player husband and touring the country.
“I actually moved 44 times because of baseball,” La Corte said.
Her husband pitched for the Atlanta Braves, the Houston Astros and the California Angels. He also played in Puerto Rico in the winter league. Being married to a Major League Baseball player had its ups and downs, said La Corte.
Whenever they moved her husband had to leave immediately so La Corte would pack up the household on her own and settle in the new city.
“I had to be a mother, father, plumber, taxi driver,” she said.
In Puerto Rico someone tried to shoot her and her husband, she’s been vomited on and even had tobacco chew spilled on her from the bleachers above.
“You know, the glamorous life of a baseball wife,” she said.
But the La Cortes always kept a home in Gilroy and when Frank La Corte ended his baseball career, they moved back home. The couple, who have been married for 30 years, bought Marx towing in Gilroy and raised their two children, Vince and Vanessa.
Besides being a mother and wife, La Corte divides her time between her day job at Marx Towing, throwing themed parties, decorating her home and serving as volunteer for organizations, most recently as the chair of the Leadership Gilroy “Just Believe” fashion show.
Her longtime involvement organizing local couture events, has earned her the name “the fashion show diva.”
Any sane person would wonder, how does La Corte do it all?
“It’s so funny, one of my friends said ‘when do you sleep?’ ” she said. “I go, go, go and then one of these weekends I don’t want to get dressed.”
Still, La Corte does get some help from those aforementioned friends and her family. The volunteer extraordinaire said she’s blessed to have such a great network of dedicated friends who she refers to as “my people,” and a family she loves dearly.
Said La Corte, “I will go to the ends of the earth for them.”
La Corte, Man of the Year Bruce Williams, Volunteer of the Year Joe Duarte, Small Business of the Year Country Clutter and Large Business of the Year St. Louise Regional Hospital will all be honored at 5:30pm on Feb. 4 at San Juan Oaks Golf Club.
Upcoming Profiles
– Jan. 13:
Volunteer of the Year,
Joe Duarte
– Jan. 20:
Large Business of the Year,
St. Louise Regional Hospital
