Catherine (White) Brewster

Descendants

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Biography

Catherine (she hated the name Flora) was born 16 May 1912; she passed away on 4 Jul 2004. But in between is where the story is.

Catherine White Brewster was born in the small town mid-west of Indiana. Her parents divorced, which would form a pattern for several generations to come.

She accompanied her parents on at least one business trip that Dorwin White took to Mexico (or South America). Quite the change from Portland, Indiana!

Whether it was this or just a part of her that appreciated some wanderlust, when she met Richard Brewster, it didn't take all that long for there to be a match. "Bud" as he was known by friends and family was working as an itinerant musician in the area. All I know is that somehow these two met and married when they were very young.

Their first child was born 10 Aug 1930 in Portland, Indiana, just a few months past her 18th birthday. Her second child was born several years later (need confirmation of birthdate.)

It was the depression and times were very tough. The 1930 census shows her and Bud living in the Brewster household of Bud's father.

Like a lot of people, they struggled through the depression and having two young children and it would take World War II to help them dig out sufficiently. Bud was a talented technical writer and was able to work in the defense industry.

Ship passage shows Bud traveled to Europe with others working for Lockheed at the close of the war. At least on one of his trips after the end of WWII, Catherine accompanied him. They were able to purchase some fine things like china and silverware. I inherited one set of sterling silver tableware from Jensen Silversmiths; another set went to my cousin.

During the later 40s and into the 1950s Catherine and Bud lived in Los Angeles, in an area that is probably now known as South Central, but then was just near Inglewood. (Ironically, my other grandparents' family was one of the founding families of Inglewood, California, and lived there during this time period, but it would take my parents both being students at UCLA to meet at a fraternity/sorority mixer.)

Catherine always worked outside the home; for much of their marriage, it was a necessity. One of her jobs in Los Angeles was running a consignment dress shop. My father recalls her going to celebrities' homes and getting dresses for her shop; then as now, if a movie star had worn the dress, it went for top dollar.

My grandparents had one of the messier marriage histories I have ever heard of.

In the 1930s during the depression, after the kids were born, it was a very low point for everybody, including the Brewsters. Somewhat encouraged by her own mother, Catherine divorced Bud then. A few years later, they reunited and remarried, remaining married for many decades until they were retired and now living in the South.

Unfortunately, Bud had earned his nickname, and there were rumors, eventually confirmed, that he had substance abuse issues - besides marijuana (not a big surprise since he had been a musician when he was young), he most probably was an alcoholic. He was able to control it for periods of time, but he always went back to it. Worse, he had at least several affairs, probably in concert with the drinking.

After they were retired, some of these patterns re-emerged, and when Catherine found out about an affair, she once again divorced Bud. After the divorce, he actually married his girlfriend, but in a few years that marriage, too, soured and he found himself once again at loose ends, but this time also with prostate cancer.

Catherine for her part had moved to Ocala, Florida and begun a new life, working in the adult education department for Marion County and beginning a "displaced homemakers" program. She was always active in church, and she was happy.

But she just couldn't quit Bud Brewster. In his last time of need, she took him back into her life, even remarrying him for the last time. He died in 1989, and she was to live until 2004. She saw great grandchildren (my own son was born in 1984 and her other great grandchildren were born later), she was happy that her son Bob had met the love of his life, finally, and married Jane Randolph. And she was in sorrow that her second grandchild, Freddie, died of complications of cystic fibrosis at the age of 42.

I loved her; I was her first grandchild. A total of five of us were born, and four remain; three of us have children of our own.

(Some of this biography needs source documents which I am in the process of getting; this will be edited in the future.)

Written near enough to her birthday (7 May 2018) by Laura (Brewster) Boren

Sources

• Personal Recollection