In the photograph, she is flanked by family members who are all wearing West Point uniforms. She is, as would be expected, beaming with maternal pride and love. Yet her humility comes through, she’s a little uncomfortable being interviewed, saying quietly and with a smile, “Well, what do you want to know?” The Cattleys’ story begins to unfold.
Carol Cattley of Mattapoisett says that her husband Robert had worked long and hard to achieve an appointment to West Point. “One avenue of entrance is to be accepted to their prep school,” she explained. Slowly and steadily from prep school, to West Point, to Stanford University, Robert, with Carol by his side, earned an engineering degree.
Their dogged determination that began when they married in 1955 would find the young couple living in a 33-foot by 8-foot travel trailer, criss-crossing the country as Robert pursued his education and later a career. Robert would retire from the Army Reserves as a colonel.
Eventually the Cattleys, along with their young son, William, would settle in Mattapoisett in the home Carol still occupies today on Water Street.
The young couple could never have dreamed the family would one day include three generations of West Point graduates.
William would follow in his father’s footsteps, going to West Point’s prep school and then on to West Point, eventually settling in Michigan with his wife, Charlene, and their growing family.
Of her son’s career choices, Carol says, “Bill grew up with his father being in the Reserves.” Bill was undecided on a career choice, but he too entered West Point. “He did well at West Point. He went to Ranger school and flight school,” she added with a mother’s pride. William would retire from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.
William and Charlene would have three children: Jessica, Alexander, and Austin. The proverbial apples wouldn’t fall far from the family tree as each would graduate from West Point – Jessica in 2013, Alexander in 2015, and Austin in 2017.
And the influence of West Point on the family doesn’t stop there. Both Jessica and Alexander would marry West Point graduates, and Austin is engaged to a West Point graduate.
“West Point isn’t an easy route,” Carol pointed out. She said of her son’s family, “How special is that to have three children graduate from West Point!”
Reflecting on the early years when her son Bill was at West Point, Carol said she and Robert would visit him at school. They’d set up camp at Round Pond near the campus of West Point. She laughs at the memory. “Bill would come out to the camper with his friends, and all they wanted to do was eat and sleep. They were so tired from working so hard at school.” She beams as those memories parade before her eyes. ”Those were such festive times…. We have such good memories.”
Carol said she’s proud of her entire family that also includes son David, an electrical engineer, daughter Debbie who lives in Africa and is married to an international businessman, and eight grandchildren, she adds, “All college graduates and very accomplished people.” Oh, and one great-grandson from Jessica of whom she said, “It’s too soon to know if he’ll follow in the family footsteps.”
When the family gathers at her Water Street home for holiday celebrations, Carol says they love to take turns telling stories and sharing experiences. In the living room sits a silent witness to the familial banter: one of Carol’s many teddy bears, a nearly life-size model.
“That one is named Brewster,” Carol says nearly in a whisper. Brewster, she explained, is where she and Bob met in the early 1950s during a long-ago summer vacation, a time when they could never have imagined the West Point dynasty that awaited them.
By Marilou Newell