ORFORD – Catherine Butman Eastburn sat for hours on a folding chair at the boat ramp on Lower Baker Pond in Orford, watching the loons.

As a scientific observer for the New Hampshire Loon Preservation Committee and an amateur wildlife photographer, Eastburn’s job was to observe the mating loon pairs at Lower and Upper Baker Pond. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1975 and based in Moultonborough, employs volunteers to help monitor and count the loon population in New Hampshire.

Lesley Butman, Eastburn’s eldest sister, called her the “Loon Lady” and the “Loon Ranger.”

“We are fortunate to work with many volunteers on the Loon Preservation Committee, but I can’t think of a better example of Cathy Eastburn’s dedication to the place and the wildlife,” said John Cooley, the organization’s senior biologist, in an interview. “She was our champion for the loons on these lakes.”

Eastburn died unexpectedly on November 29th from complications of a genetic heart condition. She was 56 years old.

Eastburn had a deep love of animals, and this extended beyond her work as a loon activist; she also had a talent for caring for people.

While growing up in Lyme, the family was constantly rescuing animals. “Over the years, we had 30 cats,” said Eastburn’s mother, Suzanne Butman.

She was the second of three daughters of Suzanne and Herbert Butman.

An avid wildlife photographer, she photographed moose, bears, eagles and ducks. “She was always in the right place at the right time,” said Ann Green, a friend from Fairlee.

Eastburn was heavily involved in the Orford and Fairlee communities. She was the unofficial photographer for Rivendell Academy in Orford, taking photos at graduations, proms, and sporting events.

She knitted mittens for parishioners and pashmina shawls for her sisters. Eastburn and her sister Lesley attended the soup supper each March to raise money for Orford’s libraries. Eastburn baked cookies to raise funds for a free summer concert series in Orford.

“She would do anything for anyone, period,” said her husband, Jim.

Each year, Eastburn and her sister Lesley built elaborate floats for the Orfor and Fairlee Fourth of July parades, with themes ranging from Alice in Wonderland to nursery rhymes.

One year, Eastburn dressed up as Elvis Presley, her sister as Ace Frehley, and her mother as Elton John.

Another year, she made a half-tentacle mask as part of the Pirates of the Caribbean float.

“She made these amazing masks,” Lesley said. “She thought she wasn’t artistic, but she really was.”

In one parade, Lesley Butman played Little Bo Peep and her sister, who were dressed as milk cartons with posters for missing sheep taped to them. “She had a great sense of humor,” Lesley said.

Eastburn met her future husband at the Dowd Country Inn in Lyme, where she was helping cater a wedding. Jim happened to be the best man. The two started chatting.

Eastburn learned that Jim was in the Army and stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She told him he could send her a Christmas card.

“When I got back to Fort Bragg, I sent her a Christmas card every day until Christmas,” Jim said.

During the first year of their relationship, Jim drove 14 hours from North Carolina on weekends to see her. The couple planned to move to Colorado, where his family lived, but after he left the military, they found a place to live in Lyme, near her parents, before settling in Orford.

They were married for 30 years. “She was my soul mate,” Jim said.

The Eastburns had two children, Joshua and Madelyn. Cathy acted as a second mother to her husband’s two youngest daughters from his first marriage, Amanda and Renee.

Eastburn was a housewife and family-oriented and lived half a mile from Lesley and her mother.

She spoke to her youngest sister, Elizabeth Levins, almost every day.

“She was just always there to take care of me,” Levins said.

The family loved birthdays and holidays. Eastburn dressed up every Halloween and took her children trick-or-treating in full costume. “She believed in birthday week,” her mother said.

Eastburn’s caring nature touched both humans and animals. During the pandemic in 2021, Eastburn began observing the loons on the pond three times a day – before breakfast, after lunch and after dinner.

With camera in hand, she assisted the Loon Preservation Committee in rescuing chicks when ponds froze over and helped build nest rafts.

“I didn’t know the extent to which she was involved in it, it was like her little secret that she was doing all these (loon) rescues,” said Tami Dowd, who was Eastburn’s childhood best friend.

Eastburn worked with Camp Pemigewassett, the summer camp on Lower Baker Pond, to ensure that the loons’ nests were not disturbed by water skiing.

“When I drove through there this summer, I realized that the physical landscape (of the lower and upper Baker ponds) is completely different for me now,” said Cooley, the biologist for the New Hampshire Loon Preservation Committee. “I associate it so much with (Eastburn’s) warmth and her humor.”

Ulla-Britt Libre can be reached at ulla-britt.p.li [email protected].