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Katherine Forsyth Walton died peacefully on January 23, 2020, at her home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She was 103 years old. She was born on June 26, 1916, in Ben Avon, Pennsylvania, where she grew up. Her parents were Andrew and Alice Forsyth. She studied history at Wellesley College and was graduated in 1938, as president of student government. In 1941, she married Thomas England Walton, Jr., of St. Davids, Pennsylvania. They lived briefly in Boston until 1942 and then, during the war years, in various Army training camp locations until Tom’s division deployed to the Pacific. They settled in the Philadelphia area after the war. She is survived by her five children – Margaret Ralph of Radnor, Katherine Sollers of San Francisco, and Thomas Walton, Diane Wood Kramer, and Ellen Ramsay, all residing in the Washington, DC, area – plus 11 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. Kathie’s warmth, kindness and optimism made her loved, admired, and appreciated everywhere as she went about her daily life, in the community and among her neighbors at the Tedwyn Apartments where she lived for the past 23 years. She is remembered lovingly by her children as someone who approached motherhood with pure joy. She embraced friends and neighbors in her Rosemont home of many years, hosting summertime backyard picnics and organizing annual Christmas caroling nights around her Airdale Road neighborhood. Widowed at only age 48, she raised her children on her own, enthusiastically welcomed each and every grandchild, and delighted in visits from the great-grandchildren. She brought equal passion to volunteering, whether as Parents Committee chairperson and a Trustee at Baldwin School, a driver for Meals on Wheels, or a member of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, where she ran a program for students at local colleges and pursued one of her favorite activities -- sharing the magic of the church’s stained glass windows. Working with the team from Willet studio who designed and installed them, Kathie brought the windows’ stories to all ages through her tours and two church publications, Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness and Spirit of the Century. Her grandchildren called her Katie and reveled in time spent with her. A day with Katie could involve building trains indoors with the household furniture, celebrating Bear’s birthday, playing Duck-Duck-Goose in the backyard, or fishing for surprises she attached from under the bed to the lines they dangled, and always ended with a child wishing she (or he, but 10 of the 11 were girls!) didn’t have to go home. Well into her 80’s, she made costumes for grandchildren and sewed clothes for their dolls. Three generations were blessed to have her in their lives, and we will all miss her. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested contributions be made to Meals on Wheels, 60 Surrey Way, Devon, PA 19333

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Katherine Forsyth Walton

June 26, 1916 - January 23, 2020