Catharine Blue Calhoun

Catharine Blue Calhoun, lover of music, poetry, prose, and prayer, beloved wife, step-mother and grandmother, died on April 15, 2023, in Presbyterian Village, Athens, Georgia. Blue was born in Elizabethtown, NC, on January 3, 1936, into a faithful and active Presbyterian family. More than five family members were ordained ministers, and her mother played organ during worship for the majority of her life. Blue was predeceased by her father, Daniel Malloy Calhoun Sr., her mother Julia Austin Clark, and her brother Daniel Malloy Calhoun, Jr. Education and church were both central in her formative years, as her mother was a teacher and her father the superintendent of schools.

Blue graduated Queens College, Charlotte, NC, with a major in English and a minor in Music in 1958. She continued her education at Northwestern University with a Masters in English in 1959, completing her Ph.D. at UNC Chapel Hill in 1972. Her dissertation was on William Morris, the British textile designer, poet, novelist, and social activist. She published the book, “The Pastoral Vision of William Morris” in 1975. Several times she visited the Morris Home, Kelmscott, outside Oxford, England. She taught at Agnes Scott College and DeKalb College before her 30+ year career teaching undergraduates and graduate students in English at the University of Georgia. Very proud of her time teaching, she influenced hundreds of students and passed along her knowledge and love of learning. Words she would pass along now are, “Don’t be afraid to tell the truth.”

In 1986 she married Bob Wood, and they moved to a farm on Oliver Bridge Road in Watkinsville, Georgia, to enjoy the fruits of peach orchard and garden, often ‘putting up’ butter beans as her parents had taught her. She loved the company of horses and dogs, and of course, she loved to entertain family and friends at the house and by the pond.

Later, as a member of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Athens, Blue helped to coordinate the partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development, edited the parish newsletter “The Tower” for many years, and she taught various Sunday school classes like EFM and Bible/book studies authored by her cousin the Rev. Frances Taylor Gench.

She is survived by husband Robert Manning Wood of Athens, Georgia, stepson Robert Bradford Wood and his wife Linda Wood of Cashiers, NC, and step-granddaughters Caroline Mason Wood (Knoxville, TN) and Rebecca Manning Wood (Boone, NC); Uncle Robert Bridger, Jr., of Ocean Isle Beach, NC; Cousins Frances Taylor Gench of Richmond, VA, and David Taylor of Greensboro, NC, Janet Blair of Atlanta, Robert Bridger III of Raleigh, NC and Mac Bridger of Pinehurst, NC. Blue was also predeceased by cousins Austin and Allan Strand and by her step-daughter Elizabeth Manning Wood.

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to The Episcopal Relief and Development fund at episcopalrelief.org.

A Memorial Service will be held at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, June 3 at 10:30 in the morning, followed by a reception in the church parish hall. Interment will be in Oconee Hill Cemetery later that day in a family-only ceremony.

Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.