Katherine McCabe

1926 - 2012

Katherine Robinson McCabe, a prolific painter, printmaker, and sculptor, died peacefully at home in Londonderry, VT, in the company of her husband and their children on Saturday, Oct. 20, 16 days after being diagnosed with acute leukemia. She was 85.
An artist of rare energy, Mrs. McCabe was renowned among her wide circle of friends and large extended family for never sitting idle--not even at stoplights behind the wheel of her car. She would dive into her knitting bag (always at her side for such dull moments) and click half way through a row of stitches before the light turned green. Once, when she was about 80, a grandson found her in her basement studio characteristically engaged: Atop her stationary bike, she was pedaling with determination while reading a book propped open on the handlebars, her hands at work molding a ball of clay into a small "pinch pot."
Mrs. McCabe began her career as a medical illustrator in New York City. A lover of museums and galleries, she would pore over the reviews of New York City shows, mapping out weekend tours of those she couldn't bear to miss. Deeply energized by all that she saw, there was hardly a medium that Mrs. McCabe didn't explore including, toward the end of her life, making luminous paintings on her iPad. Her inspiration? "The thrill that comes with discovery of unexpected effects," she once said.
The winner of numerous awards in group shows, she held a series of solo exhibitions between 1974 and 2005, including two at the Southern Vermont Art Center in Manchester, VT. Her work is now in many private collections.
An intrepid traveler, Mrs. McCabe biked alone through Europe on a three-speed after college. She whirled across the United States in a station wagon loaded with her five children and a visiting French student, toting a wobbly trailer crammed with their camping gear. And on numerous trips in her later years, she toured the world with her husband, retracing the ancient Silk Route from Beijing to Moscow, exploring the art and architecture of St. Petersburg, and visiting Normandy, London, and Sicily.
Mrs. McCabe loved the outdoors. A hiker and a skier, she spent happy afternoons and moonlit nights with her husband, children, and friends gliding through the snowy fields and woods near her home. And tennis was a decades-long passion. She was an accomplished and exuberant player.
Mrs. McCabe was born in Glens Falls, NY, on Dec. 30, 1926. A 1948 fine arts graduate of Radcliffe College, she held a master's of art and education from Columbia University and studied at the Art Student's League and Pratt Graphics, both in New York.
Together with her husband of 58 years, they raised five children (and two dogs) in Englewood, NJ, where they made their home for three decades before retiring to Londonderry. A former secretary of the Londonderry Historical Society, Mrs. McCabe was also president of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Vermont for six years and its co-president for two years. An avid gardener who could keep anything alive under any conditions--inside or out--Mrs. McCabe was also a member of the Green Mountain Gardeners.
She leaves her husband, Dr. Robert Emmet McCabe, Jr. of Londonderry; her children and their spouses: Elsie McCabe Smith and Bill Smith of Bondville, VT; Coco McCabe and Doug Stewart of Ipswich, MA; Robert Emmet McCabe III and Sue McCray of Delmar, NY; Rue McCabe Sherwood and George Sherwood of Ipswich, MA; Kay McCabe and Rod Griffin of Norwich, VT; two brothers: Powell Robinson Jr. of Duxbury, MA; and Charles Robinson and his wife Cynthia of Mendham, NJ; nine grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Her family will hold a celebration of her life next spring with an art show featuring her prints and paintings, sculpture and pottery, and her quilts--paintings in fabric--a medium she adored. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to the Mountain Valley Medical Clinic, 38 Vermont 11, Londonderry, VT, 05148.