Edith P. Baldwin

Baldwin, Edith P.
Edith P. Baldwin of Stamford died Sunday, November 3rd, at home after a brief illness. She was 91. Edith was born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin on March 16, 1922, and was raised there by her parents, Albert and Mabel Buege. After attending the public schools in Two Rivers, Edith, entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she earned a B.S. in Art Education in 1944. Edith put her degree to use teaching art to all of the grades in the Marinette, Wisconsin public schools, walking from one school to the next. It was a job she loved.
In 1948, she married Knowles L. Pittman, a reporter for the Marinette, Wisconsin star. After ten years of living in Wisconsin, as well as in Galena, Illinois, they settled in Knowles' hometown of Winnetka, Illinois to raise their four children. Always interested in current affairs, Edith was active in the local League of Women Voters chapter, and volunteered at Cook County Hospital. She loved playing tennis, swimming at Tower Road Beach, and visiting the Art Institute of Chicago with her children. When the children were older, she took a job at the Wilmette Library, establishing her second career in the library field.
In 1973, the family moved to Rowayton for her husband's business. When they divorced in 1975, Edith moved to New Canaan.
A lifelong lover of books, especially the novels of Barbara Pym, Edith soon began working at the New Canaan Library. When the library director discovered her artistic abilities, Edith was kept busy with a steady stream of assignments for posters, flyers, cards and announcements of library goings-on. Her bold and lively style of drawings and type became the look of the organization, and could be spotted everywhere throughout the building. She stayed with the library until her retirement in the mid-90's.
In 1979, Edith met and married author Richard S. Baldwin of Larchmont, New York. They moved to the Belltown section of Stamford in 1981. Avid travelers, she and Richard spent the next twenty years touring throughout Europe, Great Britain, and their beloved Mexico. Another of their favorite spots, Manhattan, was just a train ride away, and they regularly attended Broadway shows and visited friends in the city.
During the last several years of her life, Edith began writing pieces for the Two Rivers Historical Society newsletter about her memories of the town in the 20's and 30's. Her last work was this year, and entitled, "The Popcorn Boys". It was published with a drawing she did of the young men who wove through the crowds at the town's summer band concerts selling snacks.
Edith's children and grandchildren were the lucky, lifelong recipients of her creativity in the form of handmade birthday cards. Each reflected an aspect of the person's life that year with humor and love, and are cherished by all.
Edith's husband, Richard, predeceased her in 2004. She is survived by her daughters Ann Pittman of Fairbanks, Alaska; Lucia Ratner of Marlborough, Massachusetts; and Carrie Pittman of Stamford, and her stepchildren Rick and Cheryl Baldwin of Salem, New York, and John and Lois Baldwin of New Rochelle, New York. Her son, Freeman Pittman, predeceased her in 1996. Also surviving her are her daughter-in-law Susan Pittman of Holliston, Massachusetts and son-in-law Robert Quillin of Fairbanks, Alaska, and grandchildren, Ben Ratner and Sam Ratner of Boston; Rebecca Pittman of Seattle and Margaret Pittman of Burlington, Vermont.