Lois Lione Cathcart

Lois Lione Cathcart, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, September 18, 2022. She was born in Stamford, CT on March 23, 1944 to the late Frederick M. Lione, Sr. and Eva Vuono Lione. Lois grew up on Shippan Point with her parents, siblings, and grandmother in the home her grandfather built in 1924. For the rest of her life, she would treasure these roots and memories of Stamford. A memory from long ago in her life that mattered much to her, and all the more in recent years, was June 14, 1956 - the last time the circus came to Stamford. She went with her father before dawn to see the train cars arrive and unload and watch the elephants pull up the tents.

Lois graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall and in 1966 earned a Bachelor of Science in speech from the School of Communication at Northwestern University. During her senior year, she served as assistant director on an award-winning documentary entitled “Home for Life” and subsequently spent a year in Chicago as a production assistant working on the filming, soundtrack, and editing of television commercials. Lois then returned to Stamford, where she worked for her father’s construction company, Vuono-Lione, Inc. She married a young naval ensign, Paul McDonnell Cathcart, in October of 1967. Their first child arrived in July of 1968. Two weeks later, Paul deployed to Vietnam. In the ensuing years, they moved multiple times and welcomed two more children. Their path together led from Stamford to Newport, RI, Philadelphia, PA, Charleston, SC, New York City, Bedford, Millwood and Katonah, NY, and back to Stamford in 2001.

Lois was the bedrock of her family and gave the whole of her being to her husband and children. She shepherded them through the military, medical school, and surgical residency, always supporting her husband’s career and children’s education. While Paul studied and trained at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Lois helped support the family by running the medical student note-taking service and also gave tours of the local Huguenot Church. She volunteered at her children’s schools and for the American Heart Association. Over the years, she drove considerable distances to ferry her children to and from school and their other activities. The odometer on her station wagon broke at some point, stuck on a number (in the hundreds of thousands) that was enough to reach the moon and back. In addition to running the household, she oversaw her husband’s medical office for 39 years.

Lois was pragmatic and creative. She provided her husband’s every haircut and those of all her grandsons until their teenage years. Lois did all her own sewing and, though not a knitter, managed to knit a beautiful Christmas stocking for each new member of the family. She was an intelligent problem-solver and organizer who valued the practical and logical. One could count on her help with any project, no matter how complex or difficult. She took on any challenge or struggle and met it head on.

Lois was warm, nurturing, and loving. Her laugh was infectious, and she gave the best “huggy bears” imaginable - especially to her children and grandchildren, to whom she was known as “Gommy.” She enjoyed ice cream, theater and musicals (particularly “The Fantasticks” and “Man of La Mancha”). Lois loved watching Northwestern University football games in her purple NU jersey (Go Cats!) and never missed an opportunity to cheer on her grandchildren in sports, the arts, and their other interests. She was a discerning viewer of film and television, pointing out editing mistakes during family movie nights, and was always game for an adventure or a good-natured joke.

In addition to her husband of 55 years, Lois is survived by her daughters Anna (Peter) of Newport, RI, and Julia (Matt) of Potomac, MD, and son Paul (Annie) of Portland, OR. Also surviving are her grandchildren William, Robert, Mosby, Hugh, Michaela, Melissa, Paul III, and Kate, her twin sister, Lynne Webb, of Stamford, CT, her brother, Frederick M. Lione, Jr. (Nancy), of Norwalk, CT, as well as cherished nieces and nephews.

Relatives and friends are invited to celebrate her life at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, located at 1200 Shippan Avenue in Stamford, on Monday, October 3, 2022 at 10:30 am. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, please donate to The American Heart Association https://www.heart.org. In addition, the family would be grateful for any memories, thoughts, musings, or reflections you might have to share, no matter how small, about Lois, the Lione and Vuono families, friends and acquaintances of today or past generations, or about the town of Stamford in days gone by. We would look forward to hearing from you at lois.lione.cathcart@gmail.com.