Obituary 7.11.2010 Charleston Gazette-Mail
Catharine Hart Brown, known to her friends and family as “Canky”, passed away on July 7, 2010, at her home in Charleston. She was born on April 4, 1926, the second of three daughters of Edward Hart and Louise Davis Hart, at their home in Edgewood.
Catharine was predeceased by her parents; her brother, John Davis Hart; and her sister, Isabelle Hart Wilson.
She is survived by her sister, Elizabeth Hart Guiher of New York City and her husband, James F. Brown III, as well as their three sons, Charles C. of Denver, Colo., James F. IV “Jeff” and Patti, his wife, of Charleston, and Edward Davis Brown, and Alice Bryan, his wife, of Englewood, Colo. She is also survived by nieces, Catharine Wilson Burt, Catharine Guiher, and Deborah Chamblee; and nephews, William Ferguson, John H. Wilson, and Edwin McConihay Wilson; three grandchildren, Molly, Davis, and Emily; and several great-nieces and nephews.
Canky was educated in the local schools of Clarksburg, and then studied at Stephens College of Columbia, Mo., and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. This began her career as a soprano, participating in and often taking the leading lady role in many Charleston Light Opera Guild productions. She was a longtime member of the Kanawha United Presbyterian Church and a member of its choir and Women's Association.
As a supporter of the Community Music Association, she became its president and brought metropolitan Opera stars John Alexander and Beverly Sills and the pianist Van Cliburn, among others, to Charleston.
Canky was a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames in West Virginia, tracing her ancestry to John Hart, who in 1776 was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. She maintained this quality of self-reliance and independent thinking all of her life. She also served as a trustee of the Craik-Patton House Foundation.
In 1949, soon after marrying Jim, they lived in Charlottesville, Va., until his graduation from the University of Virginia Law School in 1950, when they purchased their present home in Edgewood, only a few blocks from the home of her birth.
In Charleston, Canky was an active supporter of the Charleston (West Virginia) Symphony, becoming president of its Women's Association, and participated with the Women Builders of Morris Harvey College, now the University of Charleston.
The family thanks Paula Jones and Beverly Bolland for their excellent care giving and Hospice Care for support in her waning days.
Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Friday, July 16, at the Kanawha United Presbyterian Church, 1009 Virginia Street, Charleston, with the Rev. Charles Ringe officiating. Burial will follow in the Mountain View Cemetery, Charleston.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 15, at Wilson Funeral Home of Charleston.
Remembrances may be sent to Kanawha United Presbyterian Church, University of Charleston, 2300 MacCorkle Avenue SE, Charleston; West Virginia Symphony, 1 Clay Square E., Charleston, or the Charleston Light Opera Guild, 411 Tennessee Avenue, Charleston.
