
Catherine's Crew


Catherine's Crew and the Falmouth Road Race
Please support the teams goal of raising $7,500 by clicking on one of our names!! Megan, Colette Radhika, Nina, Jack

Love from Dad on Cathy's 50th
In the old days,
In the last century,
It often snowed in April in Connecticut;
So we were only a bit surprised
That April sunshine sparkled from
A new four inch snowfall as we drove
To New Haven that Thursday morning.
It’s where I drove every weekday.
But this day was not everyday.
I skipped classes that day--Spenser, I think,
... and Economics.
(I can hear Cathy telling Tony, “I knew he skipped Economics!”)
That morning, like the green daffodils shooting
Up through the snow,
A very small flower burst into our world.
Everything about her frightened me--
Her tiny size, her cries, and her fragility--
The lifelong implications of responsibility.
Her baby fevers brought convulsions
Many trips to the ER.
I calmly panicked, a scene repeated, repeated and repeated later, often from afar.
Independent early, she managed school and chores and strife,
Picked berries, cleaned her room and played the fife;
In fact, took charge of nearly every aspect of her life,
And early Cathy learned to care for others.
Then as she grew, we herded cats together,
Some of them her brothers.
We’ve traveled some together on vacation oft as not:
Ate rusty carrot cake on Ocracoke one August very hot.
She took me up to Catskill Game Farm
One fine Father’s Day in June,
She’s waited on the Jersey Pike while
the Peugeot they did tune,
When I took the kids to Nantucket July the 4th without a reservation?
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, yet never gave up in frustration.
Katadhin’s heights we conquered, Kejimkujik’s waters tamed.
Twenty years ago saw the Galapagos, Quito and mountains near it.
In recent years she’s been with us to Africa--in spirit.
She traveled all alone, though, to Burlington for college
And boldly went to Austria to gather foreign knowledge.
The Phi Beta Kappa key she earned at Storrs unlocked no doors, she knew
Her skills, hard work, her grit and brains would see her through.
At ten Cath got her picture in The Courant selling lemonade
Years later INC and Wall Street Journal praised her skill in making trades.
Now, Wordsworth, Billie Holliday, and Francis Ford Coppola
James Garner, Janis Ian, Jackie Chan and Russell Crowe,
Are among the other famous people born on April Seventh too.
Yet director, actors, singers, Romantic poet named above
Haven’t given us anxiety, excitement, drama, joy and love
Like Cath, that tiny flower, little miracle of the snow
As we’ve watched her bloom and blossom to the woman
We now know.
Frederick Dudley, April 9, 2010


Cathy’s own “Three ‘R’s’"
Cathy is the first and only family member who is a Phi Beta Kappan, so it seems logical to consider what might have been Cathy’s personal version of a concept dating back to St. Augustine. In her case, rather than ‘readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic’, I would suggest Respect, Resiliency, and Resolve as three of the key characteristics that defined her approach to life, informed her life-long educational philosophy, and were central to her spirituality. Here are only a few examples, big and small. Read More>






