KATHERINE LEBOW

1925 - 2022

LEBOW KATHERINE EILEEN FITZPATRICK LEBOW Katherine Eileen Fitzpatrick Lebow, mother, teacher, author and wife of Morton Lebow, died at her Washington, DC home on January 2, 2022. She was 96 years old. Known to all as Eileen, she was born to Mary Elizabeth (Hannick) Fitzpatrick and Frank Farrel Fitzpatrick in the Panama Canal Zone on May 30, 1925, where she grew up with her older brothers and sister, Francis, Martin and Mary - all now gone. Their mother worked as a private nurse for families and hospitals in the area, their father as a payroll clerk for the Panama Canal Company. After being graduated from the Canal Zone's Balboa High School, Eileen moved to California, where she earned BA and MA degrees in English from UCLA, and, during a graduate class in Middle English in 1948, met her future husband. Marrying in 1951, she became a mother of three children, and eventually began working as a junior high school substitute teacher, first in Baltimore County, then in Montgomery County, MD, where she became a popular replacement for teachers experiencing long-term absences at Takoma Park Junior High. In the 1980s, she embarked on a successful career as a historian and author. She calmed her jumpiness about flying by researching and writing important histories about early aviation pioneers. Her first book, Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz (Smithsonian Press) was sparked by curiosity about a Wright EX biplane named the "Vin Fiz" that hung from the rafters of a Quonset hut that housed the beginnings of the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. The book chronicled the 49-day saga of America's first transcontinental flight, in 1911. Her second, A Grandstand Seat (Praeger Press), explored for the first time the important work of America's Balloon Corps during World War I. She followed those books with The Bright Boys (Greenwood Press), a history of New York City's Townsend Harris High School, and Before Amelia (Brassey's Press), which portrayed some of the many women flyers who advanced aviation in Russia, Europe, Great Britain and the United States before Amelia Earhart rose to the skies and prominence. Eileen self-published two subsequent books, The Navy's Godfather, about John Rodgers, the War of 1812 and the early days of the American Navy; and Web of Fear, a novel based on the life of a friend who suffered from the abuses of anonymous accusations during the 1950s McCarthy era. She loved a good martini, raw Pamlico Sound oysters, ample slices of chocolate babka - preferably from Zabars - and traveling just about anywhere in the world to hear the Julliard String Quartet. She was a devout Catholic who lived her faith in every moment and abhorred the use of religion to divide people or spread meanness, intolerance and hate. Her husband saw this first hand at a basketball game between teams from the City College of New York and St. John's University in the late 1940s. As the multi-racial and -ethnic City College team took command, two St. John's fans in front of them began shouting racist and anti-Semitic slurs. Eileen leaned forward, tapped one of them on the shoulder, and said, "I don't like what I'm hearing from you," he recalled. As the man whirled around to give her a hard time, she added emphatically, "And my name is Fitzpatrick." That ended the taunts. In 1968, when the Poor People's March brought people from throughout the nation to Resurrection City in Washington D.C., a young priest at her church invited marchers to stay overnight in the church rectory. Shortly thereafter, the church sent him packing. Eileen left, too. Asked why they were driving to a different church a few weeks later, she told her children simply, "If our church isn't good enough for everyone, it's probably not good enough for us." Eileen Lebow is survived by her husband of 71 years, her children, Ellen Gaskill (the late James Barrie Gaskill), Edward Lebow (Vivian Spiegelman), and Sarah Tolson (Howard Tolson), five grandchildren, and one great-grandson, and loving nieces, nephews. No service at this time due to Covid. Her ashes will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family welcomes contributions in Eileen's name to local food banks and programs that feed those in need.No service at this time due to Covid. Her ashes will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family welcomes contributions in Eileen's name to local food banks and programs that feed those in need.