Katharine Lawson Carter Duncan

Katharine Lawson Carter Duncan, 93, passed away at Northside Hospital after a brief respiratory illness. Lawson was a native Atlantan, born December 25, 1917 to Lawson Hines Carter and Edgar Vernon Carter of Athens, Tennessee. She grew up in Ansley Park, attending Spring Street Elementary School and then North Fulton High School, where she became the school’s first cheerleader. She attended the University of Georgia. She married Bartow Blount Duncan of Atlanta in 1937, and was happily married for 64 years. They moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she joined the Junior League of Dayton. Her daughters, Lawson Duncan Lynch and Ann Duncan Dangar, and son Bartow Blount Duncan, Jr. were born there. Katharine Duncan Kelly Penland, her fourth child, was born in Birmingham, Michigan. Bartow and Lawson returned to Atlanta in 1956.
She was very active in Atlanta. She transferred to the Atlanta Junior League and joined the Iris Garden Club, serving as president for two terms. Lawson was president of the civic association of her neighborhood. She loved gardening and was also an avid bridge player. Her summers were happily spent at the family’s beloved cabin at Lake Burton in North Georgia. She was a wonderful friend and a great listener. This beautiful much loved sister, mom and grandmother is survived by her sister Ann Carter Calhoun of Augusta and her brother Edgar Vernon Carter Jr. and four children and their spouses, Reynolds and Lawson Lynch, Bartow and Wieda Duncan, Linton and Ann Dangar and Lee and Katie Penland, as well as nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers please make a contribution to Historic Oakland Cemetery in her name or to the Iris Garden at the Botanical Garden.
Her memorial service will be May 13, 2011 at Historic Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta at 10:30 am.