blue water woman--fall 2016--final--09-27-2016--hi rez

Catherine
duffy houghton
Community Activist & Philanthropist
Living a meaningful life
by Patti Samar
Catherine Duffy Houghton, 98, of Fort Gratiot, began her self-proclaimed
“love affair” with trains when she took her first ride on one at the age of just
two years old.
Fate shined a bright light down on her when she grew up and married a
man whose family owned a railroad.
“I was just batty about trains,” she said, “and here comes this guy with
trains! I was so excited I was with a family that owned a railroad. What
more could you wish for?”
That man was George Duffy, whose family owned the 19-mile long Port
Huron & Detroit Railroad, and Duffy Houghton felt truly blessed to be
his wife for 45 years. Together, they had three now-grown children: George
“Sandy” Duffy, Jr.; Michaele “Mino” Duffy Kramer; and Katherine
“Kathy” Duffy, all of whom still live in the Blue Water Area. Duffy
Houghton’s marriage to George and, subsequently, after his death to
Englishman Herbert Houghton, took Duffy Houghton on a fun-filled and
meaningful life path that saw significant life changes for women and left her
with a global view of the world that one can only obtain after almost 10
decades on the planet.
A Midwestern gal who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, Duffy Houghton
eventually settled in suburban Detroit, where she completed high school at
the notable Kingswood School Cranbrook, on the campus of what is now
known primarily as Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills. While there,
she took ceramics classes from the renowned Marshall Fredericks, who later
went on to sculpt many famous public art pieces, including the “Spirit of
Detroit” and the Night and Day sculptures in front of McMorran Place in
Port Huron. She continued her friendship with him until his death a number
of years ago.
Following high school, she attended Sarah Lawrence College, a school of
the arts for women, near Bronxville, New York, in Westchester County. The
following year, she attended Connecticut College.
Following her collegiate years, Duffy Houghton eventually followed her
parents when they moved to Port Huron. Here, she worked in the office of
the local American Red Cross chapter as a secretary until her marriage to
6 FALL 2016 BlueWaterWoman.com
George Duffy.
Throughout her first marriage, Duffy Houghton was a wife, mother and
involved community citizen, volunteering with projects for her children and
causes that were dear to her. To this day she very carefully follows local, state
and national politics and during the 1960s she was very involved with the
Republican party.
“I was president of the Republican Women’s Club,” she said, noting
that her children recall, from a young age, being dragged along to local
Republican headquarters to stuff and stamp envelopes during campaign
seasons. Today, Duffy Houghton feels disappointed in a Republican party
that she doesn’t recognize.
She recalled hosting former Michigan Governor George Romney in her
home and she called former Governor William Milliken a “gentleman.” She
chuckled when recalling her “Obama” sticker on her car years ago. “Can you
imagine? The former president of the Republican Women’s Club?”
Duffy Houghton closely follows current events and there are issues that
are near and dear to her heart and she is generous in her support of those
good causes.
“It’s hugely important to me (to give back),” she said. “There is so much
that needs doing and these organizations just don’t have the money needed
to do it all.”
Issues of greatest importance to her include the environment, Planned
Parenthood and, as an accomplished artist herself, the arts.
“The world’s population is a great big huge problem,” she said. “It touches
our water systems, it touches our school systems and many other facets of
life.” She is fascinated with what she has read about stem cell research and
she considers it a personal responsibility to have a global view of the world.
She noted that young people need to be encouraged to look creatively at
the world and its problems and to be creative in their thoughts and actions.
“All older people should feel the way I do because we have something to
compare our world view to,” she said. “There was more love than hate in the
past. People tend to be more selfish now and you feel kind of vulnerable now.
It doesn’t have to be that way.”