Katherine Liddell (Baskin) Avery

Katherine Baskin Avery, a beloved wife, mother and mother-in-law, was a passionate gardener known for her maidenhair fern beds and for the numerous miniature flower arrangements she made and delivered frequently to hospitals. She was a social bridge player, a willing and generous hostess and an avid Five Points walker. Kay lived life to the fullest and was a friend to many both in Athens and afar. She passed away Thursday, February 27, 2020, in Athens, GA at age 96.

Upon graduating with a Business Administration degree from Anderson College in Anderson, SC, her hometown, she moved to Washington DC at age 19 where she lived in a boarding house with a childhood friend. Her first job was with the Civil Service Commission; there she worked “six long days a week”. One weekend in 1940 she attended a ROTC swing dance at Clemson University where she met Philip Shuford Avery, a North Carolina farm boy.

He had a Model T Ford familiarly known as the flivver and said he dated Kay because she lived on a hill from which it was easy to start his car. After five years of correspondence and the occasional in-person date, they married. By this time he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the US Army.

The happiest day of Kay’s life, she was recently heard to say, was October 16, 1945 when she married Phil. It was “on a bright, sunny day” at Washington (DC) Heights Presbyterian Church when she donned a dusty blue suit for the ceremony followed by a reception and dinner at the Mayflower Hotel. Kay characterized her husband as “smart, talented and rich in attitude”.

Phil, who advanced to the rank of Colonel in the Army, and she lived in Europe and various other places, one of which was West Point (where daughter Liddell was born). Other residences included Governor’s Island, NY, Georgia’s Fort Benning, Fort McPherson and Fort Gordon, Fort Belvoir, VA and Fort Leavenworth, KS.

Kay was a long-time member of First Presbyterian Church of Athens where she served for many years as treasurer of the Circle 1 Club and the Flower Committee.  She was a member of Athens’ Rabun Gap Nacoochee Guild for 50 years and a life member of the Athens Garden Club.

She was predeceased in death by her cherished husband Philip, her parents Thomas P. and Kate Liddell Baskin, and her siblings Thomas B. Baskin, Jr. and Sara Baskin Burgess. She is survived by her loving daughter and son-in-law, Katherine Liddell and Lewis Clark Bartlett, Jr. of Athens, her son Philip S. Avery II (Cynthia) of Charleston, SC, grandchildren Stephanie Baskin Avery (Portland, OR) and Philip S. Avery III (New York, NY), their mother Susan “Woodie” Avery, and by numerous nieces and nephews.

On March 12th 1:00 p.m. she will be buried alongside her cherished husband at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton. A memorial service will be held March 13th 2:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Athens with a reception immediately following in the Fellowship Hall.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Athens or to Rabun Gap Nacoochee School, 339 Nacoochee Drive, Rabun Gap, GA 30568.