JUNE ELLIS CATRON
June Ellis Catron died on October 12 at the age of 97. She was born in 1923 in San Francisco to Marguerite (Fleming) and Raymond L. Ellis. She also spent time in Marin County as a young child, and she told stories about crossing San Francisco Bay on the ferry each day with her father to get to elementary school before the Golden Gate Bridge was built, then walking across it on the day it opened. June attended Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires in downtown San Francisco from first through eleventh grades (being sick for most of second grade and skipping third grade), spent her senior year of high school in Los Angeles at Immaculate Heart High, then matriculated at Stanford University where she joined the Delta Delta Delta Sorority. She met her future husband, Thomas B. Catron, III on the first day of their freshman year English class. During World War II, while continuing at Stanford, she was very active in support of the war effort volunteering with the USO, YWCA/YMCA, and the American Red Cross.
June graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1944, earning her B.A. degree in Sociology. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as well as Stanford Cap and Gown. She and Tom were married in 1946 after he returned from the war. Tom graduated from Stanford Law School, then June and he moved to Santa Fe in 1950 where Tom joined the Catron Law Firm, practicing with his father and brother. They raised their three children – Fletcher, Stephen, and Peggy – in Santa Fe, and celebrated their 74th anniversary on April 27.
June was an active Santa Fe community volunteer including Junior Welfare, member and a President of the Santa Fe Opera Guild, a member of the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico, and a member of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation. She enthusiastically helped Tom in the launch of the Santa Fe Opera in 1957, calling Santa Fe residents from the phone book listings to encourage them to buy tickets for the first seasons. Their passion for the Opera enriched their lives and friendships.
June was an environmentalist before it was a word, as a founding member of both New Mexico Citizens for Clean Air and Water and Zero Population Growth in the early 1960s. She called attention to issues of nuclear contamination, air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, and the effects of world overpopulation. While friends greeted these concerns with quizzical looks, her concern proved prescient. Her commitment to these issues and conversations around the dinner table produced at least two succeeding generations of environmentalists. June enthusiastically supported the goals of her children and grandchildren, encouraging them to get out in the world and pursue their dreams.
June traveled the world with Tom for decades, was an avid supporter of the arts, immersed herself in learning about issues and politics locally and worldwide, and was a voracious reader. Her greatest legacy and character traits will be her wisdom, her graciousness to all, and the consistent devotion she offered her husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
June will be interred at the National Cemetery in Santa Fe with Tom who died on May 1. She is survived by son Fletcher (wife Diane L. Catron) and daughter Peggy Catron (husband Jerome C. Premo), grandson Thomas F. Catron (wife Janette Denevan Catron and their sons Maxwell and Silas), and granddaughters Julia D. Catron (husband David Andersson), Clare Premo Perez (husband Andres Perez), and Emily Charlotte Ellis Premo. June and Tom’s beloved son Stephen died in 1985. June also had a sister Gloria Ray who died in 1962. The family wants to thank the kind trio of caregivers – Nondas, Moriah, and Melby - who provided such patient and tender support for many months.
Anyone who wishes to make a memorial donation in June’s name might consider the Thomas B. Catron and June Ellis Catron Endowment at the Santa Fe Opera, or the Thomas B. Catron and June Ellis Catron Endowment at the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, or Conservation Voters New Mexico.