Katherine Chadwick Edlin, a career librarian and Pearl Harbor survivor, died on March 7 in Greenwich. She was 95.
Katherine, known as “Katie,” was born April 1, 1926 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Katie graduated from Madeira School, attended Bryn Mawr College, and graduated from Cornell University in 1949, then earned a Master’s in library science at Columbia. She worked in New York at the Associated Press as a photo editor — choosing the baseball pictures that went out over the wire and keeping the discards (much to the delight of her young nephews).
In 1962, Katie was hired in a part-time role at the public library in Greenwich, and soon moved up to assistant director, a position she held from 1969 to 1994. She retired in 1998.
Katie was the daughter of Maurice Place Chadwick and Katharine Barrette Chadwick. She was predeceased by her husband, Frank Edlin (in 1984), her sister Elizabeth Chadwick Mark (2016), and her sister Margaret Chadwick Motavalli (in 2014). She is survived by her younger brother Henry Chadwick, many nieces, nephews, and a host of colleagues and friends.
As the daughter of an Army officer, the Chadwick family moved frequently. On Dec. 7, 1941, the Chadwicks were living at Hickam Field near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When the bombing started, Katie, her mother, her sisters, and her brother crowded under the dining room table, which had been piled with mattresses.
Katherine decided that she had to find the family dog, Houndie, and she ran outside. Japanese planes were flying directly overhead, but the main hazard was from shrapnel—jagged pieces of anti-aircraft shells that were raining down from the sky. She remembers that the planes were so close that she could see the faces of the pilots and the insignia of the Japanese Air Force on the wings of the planes. The dog was found weeks later, and the shrapnel was collected in a canvas bag that lived for many decades in the family attic.
In later years, Katie traveled the world, going to India, Iran, Great Britain (where she produced full-sized grave rubbings) and all over the United States.
A memorial service for Katherine Chadwick Edlin will be held Friday, April 1 at the Emmanuel Church, 285 Lyons Plain Road in Weston. The service will be at 11 a.m. in the chapel, with a reception following.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Katie’s memory can be sent to listener-supported radio station WPKN, 277 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604 (wpkn.org).
