The Falmouth selectmen are preparing to appoint a new representative to the Steamship Authority following the death of Catherine N. Norton late last year.

Mrs. Norton died Dec. 22 after battling cancer. She was 73 and had been the Falmouth SSA governor for about a year.

Diane Davidson, an administrative assistant to the Falmouth selectmen, said Wednesday that the selectmen have announced the vacancy and will be formally advertising the position soon. Applicant interviews will follow, and Ms. Davidson estimated that a new governor would be appointed by the end of February or early March.

Mrs. Norton became the Falmouth governor in January 2014 following her appointment by the town selectmen. Hailing from New Bedford but a Falmouth resident for 50 years, Mrs. Norton told the Gazette she had a long appreciation for the Steamship Authority’s ferries

“I grew up in New Bedford and one of the biggest deals in the whole world was in the eighth grade, we’d get to get on the ferry and go to Woods Hole and then Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket . . . it was great,” she said in an interview. “The trip was part of the experience . . . romance of the sea.”

Ms. Norton worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole for 33 years, where she ran the science libraries and information technology division of the institution. She retired in March 2013.

She also held leadership positions with the Boston Library Consortium and the Biodiversity Heritage Library and served on the Falmouth school committee and as a town meeting member.

As a justice of the peace, Mrs. Norton said she often presided over marriages on Steamship Authority ferries.

During her term as an SSA governor, the board voted to name the next new ferry the M/V Woods Hole. Construction on the ferry will begin this year.

The Marine Biological Laboratory has established an endowed fund in Mrs. Norton’s honor, the Catherine N. Norton Fellowship.