Catherine MacIntyre Williams died on October 20, 2018, in Westport. Thanks to Community Nurse Home Care of Westport, she died at home, as she wished, with her son Owen and her cats Guinevere and Gretel at her side.

She was born December 25, 1938, in Connecticut, a date that caused her no end of grief throughout her life, and surely contributed to her lifelong interest in all things spiritual. Born to Dora (Hancock) and Coleman S. Williams, she and her brother Nat startled boaters on the Saugatuck River by firing the cannon kept by her formidable and slightly scandalous great aunt. Catherine was a faithful graduate of Emma Willard School, Bradford Jr. College, and Barnard College. In 1961 she returned to Bradford to teach anthropology before going on to her graduate work at Cambridge University (UK) and Barnard which took her to archeological digs in Sweden, Malta, and Malaysia.

In 1964, Catherine married Alan Dodge, and their son Owen was born a year later. In Harvard, Mass., she managed Alan’s architectural office. She was the Communications Coordinator for Universalist Unitarian Association’s northeast region. After moving to Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, she spent 10 years as Executive Director of the Orleans Housing Authority, championing affordable housing. The Dodge family sponsored foreign students through AFS, forming an especially close bond with Monwon “Ton” Bhadhavavit of Bangkok, Thailand. After she and Alan divorced in 1997. she found a joyful community in Westport.

Like Rudyard Kipling’s Elephant’s Child (Oh best beloved), Catherine was full of ‘satiable curiosity!’ Anthropologist; 1st wave feminist; KinderMusik teacher; social justice warrior; world-wide traveler; lover of Early Music and loons; faithful water tester for the Westport River Watershed Alliance, and inveterate reader, Catherine inspired, and occasionally piqued, her fellow students at UMASS-Dartmouth’s Second Half classes, her duplicate bridge partners, and her oncologists.

Catherine was pre-deceased by her parents, her brother Nat Williams, and her former husband Alan Dodge. She is survived by her son Owen Dodge of Wellfleet; her grandchild Anya Senes-Dodge and Anya’s mother Dr. Laura Senes of Vermont; and her dear cousin Mary Ann Bournos of Virginia.

Catherine’s friends and family are invited to celebrate her life on Saturday, June 15, at 1 p.m., Macomber Friends Community House, 938 Main Road, Westport. Memorial donations may be made to Westport (MA) River Watershed Alliance (http://westportwatershed.org/) or (http://secondhalflli.org/)