| Jeffrey B. Cather |
| This page is dedicated in respect for my mentor,Lady Circe |
| THE BLADE:TOLEDO,OHIO SATURDAY, June 5, 2004 |
| LADY CIRCE, 1921-2004 |
| Toledo 'witch' founded church |
Lady Circe, as Toledoans the last 35 years knew Jeffrey B. Cather, who was a shop owner, a witch, and founder and queen of a church, the Sisterhood & Brotherhood of the Old Religion, died Sunday in her Old West End home of respiratory failure. She was 82. She opened a boutique on Floyd Street around 1970. The shop's most recent incarnation, House of Circe, opened in her home last year. She was a registered nurse at Parkview Hospital when she founded the church. But she'd known she was a witch since she was 12, she told The Blade in 1972."She was a fifth-generation witch," said Connie Lorton, a church high priestess known as Lady Meshlamthea. But starting the church "was a calling within her. She knew she had to set this path for us and to make it a recognized religion instead of a hidden religion. ... It's a nature-based religion." "She was the most ageless, the sweetest, powerful woman," Ms. Lorton said. "Her aura - her presence - was breathtaking. She had the elegance that Jackie Onassis used to have." About 50 people participate in the church, but "there have been thousands of students who came through these doors, and many started their own groups," Ms. Lorton said. Lady Circe exposed her own children to other religions. Her daughter, Sheryl, chose to continue the family tradition. "She was everything you'd ever want in a mother," said her daughter, a high priestess known as Lady Madea. "I was always in the craft. I went through harrassment, lost jobs. She never pushed anything." Lady Circe, after high school in Wilkinson, Pa., served stateside in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. Her marriage to Dr. William Cather ended in divorce. He died in February, 2002. Surviving are her daughter, Sheryl Cather; sons, Jeffrey, William, and Robert Cather; sisters, Emma J. Sadowsky and Norma J. Robertson, and three grandchildren. There will be no visitation. Services will be held in April, 2005, during an annual church gathering in West Virginia. Arrangements are by the Newcomer-Farley Mortuary. The family suggests tributes to any animal welfare group or the Toledo Zoo. |
