Neither the town of Stratton nor the mountain were named for the Newfane Strattons, as fond rural legend would have it. But such is our affection for Catherine Stratton, that so many of us wanted it to be so. She was the gold standard of summer people. She loved, celebrated and contributed to Vermont in ways both large and small.
I was first introduced to Catherine when I was ushered into the neat white and red kitchen of the Stratton’s South Newfane house five years ago to help her make jam. She was then 95, amused by and curious about almost everything, as she reigned benevolently over what we came to call The Jam Lab.
During every session, as I did the heavier lifting, she told me stories of her travels, with her husband Julius, when he chaired the Ford Foundation to visit grant sites world-wide. She loved Bali and Mexico. She honeymooned in Istanbul, where she saw Ataturk himself. Thanks to Catherine, I came to associate canning not just with the hot work of handling the blistering jam, but with adventure, romance, and travel.
If I arrived early, I might find her resting - and listening to BBC news on the radio. Her reading list at 95 was formidable: science, history, current events, novels. She loved a good martini, ice cold and very dry, and enjoyed them, well into her 100th summer.
She loved Vermont, and couldn’t wait to come up here in the summers from her home in Cambridge. She reveled in her gardens, in local flora and fauna, and in her many local friends.
Her gift for listening, for drawing out the very best in her companions, was extraordinary. And it was a gift she gave everyone who came into her company. She was well traveled, well informed and accomplished. Yet she made everyone around her feel smarter, more worthy, and certainly happier.
She wanted to hear about everything from slime molds to Broadway shows to the exploits of new kittens. It was a delight to search out topics that would amuse her.
Catherine died in her beloved Vermont home. Her last words were “I’m so happy.”
Maya Angelou wrote, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
It was Catherine Stratton’s gift to make people feel included, uplifted, to make us feel a little bit more interesting than we usually felt. She embraced people wholeheartedly with warm attention.
Mourning requires that we try to darn the hole left by the passing of people we’ve loved. And while I was but one of a great many of Catherine’s friends, she leaves a gaping hole in my life. So I’ve resolved to do more than just remember her many wonderful qualities – I’ll try to bring them forward, as best I can, to share.