Catharine Johnston Westlake passed away peacefully on April 26, 2024, at Stamford Hospital, shortly after turning 88.
She was born Catharine Howard Johnston, on April 6, 1936, to Howard Andrews Johnston and Dorothy Perkins Johnston in Jamestown, New York, where she was raised and was valedictorian commencement speaker at Jamestown High School. She graduated from Smith College in the Class of 1958, majoring in Art, her lifelong passion.
She was predeceased by her first husband Harry Wayne Morgan, with whom she shared two children, and her second husband Peter Harry Westlake.
In the early 1960s, Catharine helped establish the World Press Institute in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In the 1970s, she opened Westlake Gallery in White Plains and raised her two boys in Chappaqua, New York.
From 1990 until recently, she lived in Deansboro, New York, near Hamilton College and the town of Clinton, and in Forestport, New York, in the beauty of the Adirondack Park. In 2022, she moved to Darien to be near her sons and their families.
Catharine was a professional artist, and her work was featured in hundreds of gallery shows and competitions, winning numerous awards. She continued to paint until her final trip to the hospital. Catharine was also active in print and broadcast journalism, working at WVIP Radio in Mt. Kisco, New York, and the Clinton Courier in Clinton, New York.
After generations of family vacationing in Cape May, New Jersey, for the last 45 years Catharine vacationed on Block Island, Rhode Island each summer with a growing family, and her ashes will be scattered there this summer. She loved the bluffs, the dunes, the ocean, the tide-pools, the seabirds and combing the beach for seashells, especially orange jingle shells.
Catharine loved Christmas, bringing joy and endless gayly-wrapped gifts to generations and forging lasting family traditions, for Christmastime and many other seasons and occasions.
She was an avid reader and longtime member of the Monday Club in Clinton, New York, the oldest “reading club” in New York state, founded in 1892. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was helping complete documentation for the Mayflower Society, with ancestor John Howland.
Catharine recently celebrated over half her 88 years of life in sobriety and fellowship with AA. She also loved her many cats, numbering over a dozen, in her many years. Her most recent cat passed only weeks ago.
She is survived by her immediate family, all of Darien: her son Howard DeWitt Morgan, his wife Ginger Reed Morgan, and their children: Reed Johnston Morgan, Andrew DeWitt Morgan and Catharine “Catie” Carol Morgan; her son Christopher “Kip” Bryan Morgan; his wife, Marie Resnansky Morgan, and their children: Kylie Margaret Morgan, William “Will” Harrison Morgan and Penelope “Pippa” Anna Morgan. She was predeceased by her brother, Darwin Perkins Johnston, and survived by his wife, Pat Johnston; and her nephew and niece, Greg and Catie.
Catharine was a member of Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Darien. As was her long-time wish, she will be seen off in a bright orange casket.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m., Thursday May 2 at the Lawrence Funeral Home, 2119 Boston Post Road, Darien.
A celebration of Catharine’s life and funeral service will be held on Friday May 3rd at 10 a.m., at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1864 Post Road, Darien, with a reception to follow.
The reception will take place in the Anderson Youth and Community Center in the back of the property, where Catharine regularly attended the Sunday 5 p.m. CAYA (come as you are) services with her family.
Guests are encouraged to wear orange, pink and other bright colors. The event will be live streamed. Contact the family for a direct link with SaintLukesDarien.org or access via Golf.com/CJW.
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Catharine may be sent to:
• Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization
— an obituary from Lawrence Funeral Home, where online condolences may be left