Catherine F. "Kitty" Birch, who managed a farm and was a former secretary of the Harford County Farm Bureau, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 3 at her daughter's East Petersburg, Pa., home. The longtime Norrisville resident was 95.
She was born Catherine Fish in St. Mary's County and was the daughter of William E. Fish, who taught in a one-room school and was a farmer, and Effie Miles Fish, a homemaker. She attended St. Mary's Academy and was a 1937 graduate of Great Mills High School. She lived on the family farm at Cedar Point until the early 1940s.
"It was Christmas Eve, and a Navy officer came to the door to present the Fish family with condemnation papers," said her son, Michael S. Birch, an attorney who lives in Norrisville. "It was the beginning of World War II, and the land where she lived was taken to establish Patuxent River Naval Air Station."
Mrs. Birch became the first civilian employee hired to assist the DeCorse Construction Co., a firm hired to build the air station.
"My mother was an outgoing person, and she knew St. Mary's County well. The base was large and contained many farmhouses where the officers were to live," said her son. "She knew which ones had plumbing and where they stood. She remained with the base contractor throughout the war and after and became the contractor's purchasing agent."
In 1942,she married Charles D. Birch, a St. Inigoes resident, who taught school and was a dairy farmer.
The couple decided to look for a farm to buy but found that their cousins in St. Mary's County did not want to sell. They toured Carroll County but were also discouraged. On a tip from a dairy processor, they contacted a real estate agent in Harford County and wound up buying a farm in Norrisville in the northern section of the county.
"They moved from as far south on the Western Shore as you can get to as far north," her son said. "The farm is on the Mason-Dixon Line."
They established a dairy farm, which her husband operated and she managed. They bought adjoining farms in the 1960s and the 1970s. Their properties include a 1760s Mason-Dixon stone marker, with an M on the Maryland side and a P on the Pennsylvania side. The stone stands at mile 39.
"She didn't tell him how to milk cows and he didn't tell her how to manage a checkbook," her son said. "My father never wrote a check without asking her first."
In the 1960s, Mrs. Birch took a part-time job as the secretary of the Harford County Farm Bureau in Bel Air. As part of her duties, she signed up farm bureau members to get hospitalization insurance through Blue Cross and Blue Shield. She retired from the post more than 30 years ago.
"She was amazing at dealing with the bureaucracy," said her daughter, Marjorie Birch, of East Petersburg, Pa. "She was particularly adept with insurance companies. She was somebody who had secret phone numbers. She was also good at collecting bills."
She also became an advocate for a library in Norrisviile.
"At first, a bookmobile came once a week," her son said. "Then the library planted the truck at the school. When an old store became vacant in Norrisville, the county leased it. My father went in and built shelves."
He said his mother was a "cheerful lobbyist" for Norrisville and its need for a new public library. She attended library board meetings and stated a case for her community.
In 1986 she saw a new Norrisville Library open. It shares a building with a county gymnasium.
She remained on the farm until 2005.
A life celebration will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 11 at 3011 Green Road in Norrisville.
In addition to her son and daughter, survivors include a sister, Margaret Ann Spain of Bethesda; two grandchildren; and a great-grandson. Her husband of 54 years died in 1996.