Cathy Kozlowski, 1949-2022
Cathy Kozlowski, avid lacemaker and embroiderer, passed away on July 26, 2022. She was a member of I.O.L.I. and the Lafayette Lacemakers. Cathy served as I.O.L.I. Librarian for almost 20 years from 2001 until 2020. As a librarian in her early professional life, she organized the IOLI collection, and she loved shopping for new acquisitions. Cathy co-chaired the 2016 IOLI Convention in Indianapolis, IN. [Picture of Cathy giving instructions for the Convention.]
Cathy served in several offices for Lafayette Lacemakers. She was currently the Treasurer for the chapter and liaison to the Feast of the Hunters’ Moon where our group demonstrated. Kelli S. recalled, “About once a year I would mail her all of the little bits and bobs leftover from my tatting which she would attach to the Lafayette Lacemakers business cards to hand out.”
Cathy was an active lacemaker. She often traveled to lace workshops where she studied numerous bobbin laces. Cathy also enjoyed drawing lace patterns and tatting. Anne M remembered, “We tended to like the same kinds of lace challenges. I was standing with Ulrike in the display room at an IOLI convention when Ulrike realized Cathy had made two of her butterflies. I sure didn't take on that challenge. I was never surprised at the varied things Cathy wanted to learn. She wanted to soak up everything.”
Over the years, Cathy hosted several of the group workshops in her home.
[Attached picture – Chris M, Cathy, Kate H, Cindy H with instructor Ulrike V. 2001]
Kelli recalled, “I learned wire tatting from Carolyn R at Cathy's house. We all piled around her table and showed off works in progress and finished projects, chatted, had lunch, and made fun wire tatting motifs.”
As an active member of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America, Cathy was juried into the prestigious Fiber Forum, the EGA’s exhibit of embroidered works of exceptional merit.
Kelli remembers that Cathy was always ready to demonstrate. [picture from Feast of the Hunters’ Moon] “She regularly attended the Feast of the Hunters’ Moon, Global Fest, and Dickens of a Christmas. And she was fun to demonstrate with too! Man did she love to dress up in her period costumes.”
Bette C recalled, “We all know she never saw a book she didn’t like. She preferred the books with history in them. Cathy was a librarian before she went to school to learn computer languages.”
Chris M and Cathy were both collecting English bobbins on E-Bay in the early 2000s. “We were both bidding on the same bobbin, and I won the bid. Next time I saw her, she brought up the bobbin…..So we decided that this would not happen very often again, and it never did.”
Everyone who knew Cathy recognized that she was opinionated. Bette remembers discussions on symmetry vs. asymmetry, and “why would you even look at pink when a bold red was available? She wrote a poem on that one….on deficiencies of pink.”
Kelli added, “I also have very distinct memories of Cathy and how she constantly pushed me to join I.O.L.I. (which I resisted for years), pushed me to learn new laces and new techniques (which I did), and pushed me to teach lace making. I will forever be grateful to Cathy for asking me to teach a wire knitting class at the 2016 I.O.L.I. Convention in Indianapolis, and then having the chutzpah to ask me to take over when the knitting teacher had to cancel her classes. Cathy believed in me and I'm not sure I would be teaching at I.O.L.I. without that push from her.”
Cathy worked at Purdue University until her retirement, after which she traveled frequently. She enjoyed good food with a fine wine. Charlotte N recalled that Cathy was a scuba diver and she also liked going on cruises. Over the years, she shared her home with her beloved retired racing Greyhounds and Papillons. We will miss her so much.
Lafayette Lacemakers
Lafayette, IN
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