HAMPTON -- Catherine Louise (McEachern) Redden embarked on her final journey from the Hyder Family Hospice House in Dover on Sept. 26 after a courageous battle with cancer fueled by an incredibly positive attitude and support from her family, friends and faith.

Cathy was born April 12, 1949, youngest child of John H. McEachern Jr and Stella Louise Shaw and was raised in Hampton Falls. A graduate of Winnacunnet High School, Class of 1967, she received her BS from Plymouth State College and taught English at Pinkerton Academy in Derry for 15 years. While teaching she earned a Master's in Library Science from the University of Rhode Island and moved on to become a public library administrator, first in Londonderry in 1986, and then in Hampton, where her great grandfather Simeon Albert Shaw was the first public librarian for more than 50 years.

In 2005 she was honored with the Ann Geisel Award of Merit from her peers. Cathy was a lifetime member of the N.H. Library Association, the One Hundred Club and was also honored with a Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Hampton Rotary Club.

Along the way she was married for 23 years and gained some wonderful in-laws in the Redden family who supported her through her divorce and in her following years of independence. Cathy embodied her parents' Yankee values of hard work, honesty and family loyalty. In 1991, she discovered a passion for making quilts for family, friends and fund-raisers and spent the Lenten season of 2007 making a baby quilt a week for the Rotoplast project for cleft palate babies.

Cathy is survived by her brother John H (Jack) McEachern III of Hampton Falls, N.H.; sister Judith E. (Jude) Thibault and husband, Nelson L. Thibault Jr., of Nottingham, N.H.; four nieces Therese Thibault Bonnet and husband, Guillaume, of Clermont-Ferrand, France; Laura Thibault and husband, Jamie McKinnon, of Thornton, N.H.; Jessica Thibault and Rob Chapin of San Diego, Calif.; Marni Thibault and husband, Greg Thibault, of Berwick, Maine; nine grandnephews and nieces; many McEachern and Shaw cousins; devoted friends and her faithful feline companions Ali and Gracie.

The outpouring of love and prayers from Europe to California and from Maine to Florida and points in between was humbling. Cathy's incredible courage and positive outlook will continue to inspire all the lives that she touched.

A celebration of Cathy's life will be held at the First Congregational Church, 127 Winnacunnet Road, Hampton, on Friday, Oct. 3 at 2 p.m., immediately followed by refreshments in Fellowship Hall. The church will be open at 1 p.m. for those who wish to visit with her family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hampton Rotary Club, P.O. Box 353, Hampton NH 03843-0353 or the Lane Memorial Library, 2 Academy Ave., Hampton, NH 03842. Assistance with arrangements was by Remick & Gendron Funeral Home-Crematory. www.RemickGendron.com.

Catherine's memorial service program

Catherine Redden Was A Class Act

Hampton Union, September 3, 2008

Dedication of the Dearborn/Redden Room