Cathy Janson, an artist and part-year resident of Martha’s Vineyard, died following a heart attack while at her home in Vineyard Haven on Sept. 17, 2017. She was 67.

Cathy, known to many friends as Cat, was an active and vibrant presence on the Island. For three decades, Cathy and her husband Francis Janson, of Yardley, Pa., lived part of the year on the Vineyard.

Born in Philadelphia, she first came to the Island as a young mother of three children in the 1980s to visit friends. Cathy immediately felt at home on the Island and set out to return as often as possible. For many years Cathy and Francis docked their boat, The Fishing Well, in Menemsha during the summer.

She found the Vineyard fertile ground for expanding her world and creating community. On the Vineyard, she began rowing, played ukulele with an ensemble, advanced her painting skills, learned how to tap dance, gleaned on Vineyard farms and volunteered at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse. She loved running the Chilmark Road Race.

In addition to Francis, she is survived by her three children, their spouses and her five grandchildren, Michael and Anna Janson of Silver Spring, Md. and their children Isaac, Samuel and Miriam; Merritt Janson and Benjamin Wertheimer of Brooklyn and their children Sebastian and Margot; and Patrick Janson of Manhattan. She is also survived by her mother, Helene Selig, of Philadelphia; her father, Bob Mosk, of Glenside, Pa.; and her sister, Barbara Houten, of Philadelphia.

In Cathy’s honor, her family will host a memorial to dedicate a new trail kiosk in Brightwood Park, a nature sanctuary near her home in Vineyard Haven. The kiosk was made possible by donations to the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation given in Cathy’s honor. Cathy regularly walked through these woods, along the Lagoon from her house to Vineyard Haven.

The memorial will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15 at the Brightwood Park trailhead. For further details, please call 215-757-0005.