Catherine Harper Russell Stribling

CATHERINE HARPER RUSSELL STRIBLING Catherine Harper Russell Stribling died May 27, 2013, at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center. She was born in Wilmington on July 20, 1927, the daughter of the late Catherine Harper and James Emmett Russell and the granddaughter of Captain and Mrs. John William Harper of Wilmington. Her daughter, Catherine Russell Stribling, of Los Angeles, CA, and her son, Charles Sloan Stribling Jr., and his wife, Alissa, of Virginia Beach, VA and Washington, DC, survive her. Catherine was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, the Carolina Yacht Club and the Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear where she served on the Board of Directors for six years. Prior to retiring to Wilmington in 1992, she was administrative manager for the art department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for twenty years. She remained an avid Tarheel basketball fan until her death. Catherine nurtured friendships throughout her life. She will be remembered fondly by her childhood friends in Wilmington; the members of the Girl Scout troop she led fifty years ago who remained close; her many friends from Chapel Hill; and the staff of Autumn Care of Myrtle Grove who cared for her so well during the last seven years of her life. Catherine was a life-long learner, enhancing her studies with numerous trips to Europe. She was the first resident of Autumn Care to have her room wired for the Internet and spent many happy hours "surfing the net" up until her death. Last year she researched and wrote an article about her grandfather, Captain John Harper, that the Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear published. She loved her movies and her music, Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, and doing things her way. She did not suffer fools lightly. No obituary of Catherine is complete without mentioning her wicked wit, in evidence until the last few weeks of her life. Interment will be in the Harper plot at Oakdale Cemetery. A devoted Anglophile, Catherine will be interred wearing the dress she wore when she met Queen Elizabeth II. Catherine's funeral service will be Saturday, June 1st, at St. John's Episcopal Church at 11am. Memorials may be sent to the Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear, 126 South Third Street, Wilmington, NC, 28401.