Obituary: Cathryn Cox Rothery, A Navy Wave During WW II

Cathryn Cox Rothery, 92, a resident of Brooksby Village in Peabody, died on January 17 at the Lafayette nursing home in Marblehead.

She was born in Elijay, Georgia, where her father was a staff psychiatrist at the Georgia State Mental Hospital. She graduated from Georgia State College for Women in 1940, and served as a WAVE in the U.S. Navy during World War II. While she was stationed in Washington, D.C., she met her husband, John Loring Rothery of Scituate, Mass., who was also serving in the Navy. After the war, the couple moved to the Boston area, and eventually to Concord, Mass., where they raised three daughters, Cathryn (Kate), Louise, and Sarah (Sally). Cathryn loved raising her family, but also did personal and freelance writing. Her work was published in The Boston Globe, the Mainecoast Fisherman, Guideposts, and Points East.

Cathryn and her husband, both avid sailors, moved to Marblehead in the late 1960s so they could spend more time on the water. They were members of the Boston Yacht Club, and enjoyed cruising in Maine during the summers. At retirement, they sailed their boat down the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida, where they bought a condominium and spent many years cruising in the Bahamas and Keys. They also enjoyed traveling, and visited the British Isles several times, China, Nova Scotia, and Alaska. Sadly, Cathryn lost her daughter Sally in 1991, and her husband in 1999. She returned to Massachusetts in 2005 to be closer to her family. 

She leaves her daughters, Kate and Louise, and a grandchild, Elizabeth. 

Services will be private. Arrangements by the Eustis and Cornell Funeral Home, Marblehead.