Catherine Lutes

      Dr. Catherine Urell Lutes was born in Tioga, Pennsylvania on the 10th of February 1900 to parents Thomas Moore Urell, a Tioga grocer and merchant, and Maud Pauline Babcock Urell, a homemaker.  Catherine was one of three children: a sister, Rowena Louise was born in 1903, and brother, Tom Moore Urell Jr., was born in 1908.  

Catherine attended Mansfield Normal School (a state teachers college) in Tioga County where she graduated as class valedictorian in 1919.  She  continued her education at Elmira College, a private liberal arts school in Elmira, New York before relocating to New York City where she worked as a teacher and attended the College of the City of New York University where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a Masters degree in Higher Mathematics.  This was followed by a Ph.D in Educational Psychology and a degree of Doctor of Philosophy from New York University.  

In 1933, Catherine married Frank Evans Fite, an accountant.  That marriage ended sometime after 1942 and in 1944 she married Dr. Olin Silas Lutes, an educator and prior Dean of the School of Education, University of Maine, who was then serving as a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Force.

In the 1950's, Catherine added to her list of professional accomplishments by authoring a series of books for children commissioned by the New York City Board of Education where she was then employed as a research associate. 

Evergreen Cemetery, Tioga, Pennsylvania is where generations of Urells' have been laid to rest, as was Catherine's family:  Tom Urell Sr., was buried there in 1923, followed by Tom Urell Jr., in 1962, Maud Babcock Urell Munger in 1963, and Rowena Louise Urell in 1966.

In 1961, the Lutes travelled extensively on a study of educational systems outside the United States.  They visited Spain, Morocco, France and England.  Dr. Olin S. Lutes died in 1967 in Brooklyn, New York.  

Dr. Catherine Urell Lutes died on the 9th of July 1983 and was buried on Hart Island on the 20th of December 1984.