Cathryn Anita Williams Baker
Cathryn Anita Williams Baker died May 1 in Sheboygan, Wis., where she made her home with her eldest daughter, Cathryn Anita (Isa Majed) Al-Shaheen of Kuwait.
She is survived by a sister, Caroline Anne Blanchard (George S.) of Gainesville, Fa., and by her other children, Mary C. Hunt (Torrence M.) and H. Stuart Baker, both of Pittsburgh, Katherine S. Lins (Claudio L.K.) of Racine Wis., Cheeri E. Baker of Chimacum, Wash., and Heidi V. Baker of Burke, Va. She had 11 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and 13 nieces and nephews.
She was 92.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Harrison Stuart Baker; a sister, Mary Margaret Williams (William L.) Owen; a brother, Andrew George (Mary P.) Williams; a sister-in-law, Mary Virginia Baker; a brother-in-law, Charles Barringer (Betty) Baker; and nephews, William L. Owen Jr. and William B. Baker.
“Cassie” Williams was born Nov. 28, 1918, in Chicago, the second of four children of Andrew Greer and Georgia Cathryn Pillow Williams, both from Butler.
She attended Sutherland Elementary School and Morgan Park High School. She attended Rockford College in Rockford, Ill., for three years before graduating in biology and premedical studies in 1940 from the University of Chicago.
She was a photographer with The Chicago Daily Times, where her daily column, “Times Talkies” was so successful that the publisher sent her to Florida to start a similar column at his other paper, The Tampa Tribune. She was elected secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Press Photographers Association.
On Aug. 14, 1943, Cathryn Williams married Army Air Corps 2nd Lt. (later Capt.) Harrison Stuart Baker. After a brief time in New Orleans after World War II, the couple returned to Chicago to raise their six children in the Beverly Hills–Morgan Park community where they both grew up.Cathryn and Harrison Baker were founding members of the Beverly-Morgan Park Historical Society. They were active in the Beverly Area Improvement Association and the PTA of their children's schools. Cassie served as board chairwoman of the Beverly Art Center. She was a trustee on the board of the Ridge Civic Council. She was a life member of the Chicago Art Institute and a member of the Plymouth, Wis., Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.For four decades, Cassie was secretary-treasurer of Harrison Baker's registered investment adviser firm, working at his side in their home office to the clatter of the world's last operating paper ticker tape machine. Still, she declared her profession as housewife.After Cathryn's childhood home on Seeley Avenue was destroyed by fire in 1992, the Bakers moved to Sheboygan, Wis., working to renovate a 1913 house on Lake Michigan. Harrison Baker died Oct. 29, 2005.Cathryn W. Baker's ancestors in Western Pennsylvania go back to 1799. Butler County has been important in her family history for generations. Her maternal grandparents were George Clinton Pillow and Melissa Linn Pillow of Pillow Street. Her paternal grandparents were Andrew Gomer Williams and Emma Seavey Ramage Williams of North McKean Street.Andrew G. Williams, a veteran of Co. E, 63rd Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Civil War, read law with the Honorable Judge John M. Greer and served in the Pennsylvania Legislature. After the death of his law partner, Alexander Mitchell A.G., Williams was featured in a 1920 article in The Butler Eagle as the oldest practicing attorney in town.
<B>BAKER </B>— The memorial service for Cathryn Anita Williams Baker, who died May 1, 2011, took place May 11 at Hope Reformed Church in Sheboygan, Wis. Burial will take place later in Old North Cemetery, Butler.
