Catherine Hyland Gregg, “Kitty,” was a hardworking, funny, faith-filled woman, who loved her friends and the opportunity to speak with them in equal measure. A native Washingtonian, Kitty was raised in the Petworth neighborhood on Third Street NW where she attended school at St. Gabriel’s. The family moved out of the city to Maryland, just over the District line, during Kitty’s teen years.
Kitty attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. She worked to put herself through college at George Washington University, earning a degree in foreign affairs in 1960 and was the first member of her family to attend college. At GW, she wrote an advice column as Hester Heal, served as president of her sorority, Delta Gamma, and was active in theatre. She met the love of her life, graduate student, Thomas Lloyd Gregg, at the United Nations breakfast and they were married in 1961. After college, she worked in the D.C. offices of Ohio Congressman Charles Vanik.
Kitty and Tom raised daughters Catherine and Ann in Rockville, Md. Kitty cared for both of her parents through the end of their lives, moving her mother, Margaret, in with Kitty’s family and coordinating service providers for seven years until her death. During that time, Kitty began volunteering in the mental health field at Montgomery General Hospital.
She made lifelong friends with her neighbors, enjoyed tennis and her book club. She and Tom had a special circle of friends known as the “Pieces of Eight plus One” with whom they often traveled. They maintained collegiate friendships and Kitty made many friends through her parish community at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Rockville, where she sang soprano in the choir.
After a brief stint working at WMAL-TV, her volunteer experience blossomed into a distinguished career in the mental health field. She joined a team that developed and opened Montgomery House, a community support system for the chronically mentally ill in Montgomery County, Md., ultimately becoming the center’s director. She pursued a master’s degree in social work at the University of Maryland and joined the staff at Psychiatric Institute, where she worked until she and Tom retired to Maine, where she would live for 24 years.
In Maine, Kitty had a second career in volunteer roles including several leadership positions, as a board member and president of Weymouth House, board member and chair of Cove’s Edge Nursing Home, and as a board member and chair of Miles Health Care, where she helped facilitate the merger of two hospital systems. She served on the adult education board, representing her community of Newcastle, and returned to her love of the theater by performing at The Waldo Theatre and with Heartwood Regional Theater Co. She and Tom were blessed with many friendships and joined yet another St. Patrick parish.
Following Tom’s death, Kitty returned to Maryland and has lived for the past seven years at Broadmead in Cockeysville, Md., where the pattern of friendship and volunteer service continued. She died there on March 20, 2024, with family at her side.
Kitty is survived by her daughters, Catherine Cox, of Phoenix, Md., and Ann Skeet, of San Jose, Calif. She is also survived by sons-in-law, David Cox and Bill Skeet; and five grandchildren: Charlie, George, and Katie Cox, Emma and John Skeet; and George’s wife, Sara.
There will be a celebration of life at Broadmead, 13801 York Road, Cockeysville, Md., at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 3, and a mass of Christian burial at St. Patrick Church, 380 Academy Hill Road, Newcastle, on Friday, April 5, at 10 a.m.
Contributions can be made in honor of Catherine H. Gregg to the Sjögren’s Syndrome Center through their online giving form or by mailing donations to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine Attn: Department of Medicine/Div. of Rheumatology, P.O. Box 49143, Baltimore, MD 21297-9143, with checks payable to Johns Hopkins University or to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, P.O. Box 598, Newcastle, ME 04553.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolence, and messages for her family, may be expressed by visiting stronghancock.com.
