Catherine Marie Brant

Catherine M. Brant, aged 104, passed away in her sleep surrounded by family on January 7, 2024, in Washington, DC. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in October 1919. Catherine was a 1936 graduate of the Girls Latin School in Boston. She earned a BA in Psychology at Brown University in 1940. At Brown, she met a promising medical student, Earl E. Brant of Youngstown, Ohio. What started out as lab partners turned into a marriage that lasted 60 years. After college, Catherine worked as an order clerk at a machinery company in Boston supplying pumps and motors to Oak Ridge, Tennessee for the Manhattan Project.

In 1943, Catherine married Earl Brant and moved to Philadelphia, where her husband attended medical school. In 1947, Dr. Brant went overseas to Korea as a Captain in the US Army of Occupation where he ran a field hospital, while Catherine returned to Boston and resumed her previous job. After service Catherine and her husband lived in Ohio and New York and had two daughters, one born in each state.

After settling in Larchmont, New York, Catherine became interested in teaching high schoolers who had reading problems and after study, and hands-on experience, she worked at Mamaroneck High School in New York as a reading specialist. She found it rewarding helping teenagers finally learn to read.

In 1992, Catherine and her husband made their last move to Washington, DC as their daughter Donna was well settled there and it seemed a fun move. She became a volunteer at the Heurich House library learning about her new city and re-discovering historical moments in time. She was also involved with the library committee of the National Presbyterian Church, where she was a member. She was honored four times by Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Department of Aging and Community Living for her longevity.

Catherine was preceded in death by her parents Anton and Frieda Schatz, her husband Earl E. Brant, and daughter Elaine Brant Tower. She is survived by her daughter Donna Brant of Washington, DC.

Services will be held on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, at 11am, at the National Presbyterian Church, Columbarium, at 4101 Nebraska Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20016.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to: The John Carter Brown library, 94 George Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02906