Cathey’s loving parents.
Catherine “Cathey” Grey Carrington Clawson, 48, died Thursday, June 17, 2010, at her home in Manteo only six months after the discovery of a primary brain tumor. Mary Blanch and Boyce Harwell’s daughter. Such good people.
Cathey was born July 7, 1961 in Chapel Hill to the late Dr. Samuel M. Carrington Jr. and to Mary Blanche Meekins Harwell. She lived and attended schools in Chapel Hill, Paris, Boulder, Houston, Manteo, Chattanooga and Rock Hill, graduating from Rock Hill High School in 1979. She earned a BA in clarinet performance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1983 where she performed in the New Music Ensemble and was principal clarinetist in the Wind Ensemble and the University Symphony Orchestra.
Cathey lived a life filled with music, including performances with numerous groups in Cincinnati, the Community Symphony Orchestra in Charlotte, numerous wedding performances on the Outer Banks, and her favorite, the Roanoke Island Trio, with Sue Waters, violin/viola, and Lee Kearney, piano. She maintained a music studio which grew to 45 students, teaching clarinet, saxophone and piano. Cathey’s most recent employment was in human resources for the National Park Service Outer Banks Group which she called “her NPS family.” She loved working there and believed in their mission.
Cathey was a loving person that always thought of others first and herself last. She was an avid reader, devoted mother, skier, camper, traveler, and hiker. She hiked in Switzerland, the Great Smokey Mountains NP, Grand Canyon NP, Rocky Mountain NP, Red River Gorge, the Napali Coast of Kauai, the Maroon Bells NF, El Dorado NF and Mount Tallac, Klamath NF, Big Sur, Muir Woods NM, Point Reyes NS, Sunset Crater Volcano NM, Wupatki NM, Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP, and Glacier NP.
Cathey is survived by her husband, David Clawson; three sons, Zachary, Grey and Gage; her mother, Mary Blanche Harwell; her stepfather and second father Boyce Harwell. The family gives special thanks to the loving caregivers who made it possible for Cathey to remain in her home.