Catherine Yates Short passed away peacefully on Mothers Day at the age of 91.
She was born on April 22nd, 1934 in Apex North Carolina to Carl and Dorothy Yates of Pittsboro. After graduating from her beloved Meredith College, Cathy moved to Williamsburg in 1959 where she took a job as an intern in the audio visual department.
She was set up on blind date with the very cute, but very shy, Jim Short, a historian with Colonial Williamsburg who would go on to spend his entire career there. While nearly a dozen years her senior, and nervous about their age difference, he proposed marriage to her on April Fools Day thinking she would need air cover to change her mind later, but she never did. They spent the balance of their days finishing each other thoughts, passing love notes to each other like teenagers, welcoming two boys into the world, and taking up residence in the Nicolson House on York Street.
After Jim’s untimely passing in 1980, Cathy was forced to transition from homemaker to breadwinner and set about the task of seeing her boys through college. She became a realtor with Abbitt Realty where she worked for many years. As with all things she really knew only one way to do it which was all in, both in her job and in her support of, and leadership in the local Board of Realtors. Along with a wide cross section of debris, she always kept a bag full of the most versatile tools in her car. At any time day or night, if her customer had a pipe break or some other malady at their home, it wouldn’t have been unusual for her to show up and crawl under the house or up to the attic to fix it. Those with whom she worked could always count on her for fair dealing, and for getting a good giggle along the way. While she would harvest boxes of performance awards, none of these awards made it much beyond the back seat of her car, but when the Board gave her the Ethics Award, that was the one award that made it into the house.
Cathy was resolute in all things. She was two-time athlete of the year at Meredith College. She took up golf later in life, playing with a care free fearlessness, and an ongoing dialogue with both her clubs and the ball. She would debate politics with anyone, but wouldn’t allow it to poison a friendship, as much as to strengthen it. An avid gardener, like anything she ever planted, she believed the English language should be similarly tended to, and when she wrote, she wrote beautifully. She made it a point to get someone each day to smile or giggle, and even in her final days at her weakest, she still would do so. She felt that cornbread shouldn’t have sugar in it, that you should always have cole slaw with fried fish, and that the skating rink in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg was a bad idea.
Her devotion to Williamsburg Baptist Church was absolute, and no committee went long without her engagement. This included doing the landscaping for the church herself for years, sometimes cajoling Members into weeding, and always bargaining with vendors to get the best prices for the Church on bulbs, mulch, or annuals. She would continue to do so, well beyond the point where time seemed to suggest putting her rake down, but for her it was another way for her to serve the Church, and the one that she perhaps took the greatest comfort in. From her earliest days to her last, if you saw her coming your way, you knew you were in for a grin or maybe even a hug, and while you weren’t ever sure which, you always knew that your day would be better for having bumped into her in some way or another.
Cathy will be missed enormously by those she leaves behind, but their hearts are warmed by the thought of whom she has gone on to be with. Those include her beloved husband Jim, her first born son Jonathan, her Mom and Dad, Carl and Miss Dorothy, her “sister” the late Woodie Sumpter, and her nephew Ed Sumpter, her Granddaughter Virginia Arlyn Short, and a long list of friends who preceded her, but will be likewise tickled to see her.
Surviving her are dear friends Anne Allen and Bell Jo Rogers, whose friendship, care, commitment, and comfort has been of immeasurable value both to Cathy and to her family. Her son David and his wife Betsy of Lake Oconee, Georgia and their daughters Abigail Short of Raleigh, Shannon Short of Washington DC, and Jenny Short of Athens, Georgia. Also her daughter in law Anne Short of Garner, North Carolina, and her wonderful nephew David Sumpter of Tampa, Florida and his two sons Eric Sumpter and Matthew Sumpter. And, her future grandsons in law Ethan Grizzle and Jacob Milchuck, who she would have befriended quickly, and with whom she would have shared a dizzying amount of insight and counsel.
A service will take place on May 23rd at 11 am at Williamsburg Baptist Church.
