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Oral History of Katherine Mazzaferri
This interview is being conducted on behalf of the Oral History Project of The Historical
Society of the District of Columbia Circuit. The interviewer is Annamaria Steward, and the
interviewee is CEO Emeritus of the D.C. Bar Katherine A. Mazzaferri. The interview took place
on Saturday, April 8, 2023. This is the second chapter.
MS. STEWARD: Katherine, your life growing up with your creative and artistic mom and,
well, your creative parents, seems idyllic. Was that throughout your whole
life growing up?
MS. MAZZAFERRI: It was up to a point. When I was 12, my dad took a business trip on a
plane. They hit bad weather, and there was an accident. There was one
survivor, but not him. I’ve heard others who were children when they lost
a parent speak of life before and after the death of the parent, and that’s
how it was for me. Life was idyllic ahead of my dad’s death, and
afterwards, it was so different and difficult. His empty chair at the kitchen
table was a daily reminder of the terrible and devastating loss we all felt.
My mom, who didn’t have any experience in business except for
the many late-night conversations she had with my dad about his business,
had to figure out how to move forward, and she did. She put on business
suits and high heels and met with lawyers to take the necessary steps to
sell my dad’s business. At that point, he had been the solo proprietor of his
company. In addition, she needed to deal with the plane accident. And she
had to figure out whether we could afford to live in our dream house. She
concluded that we couldn’t, so she needed to find a new home for us in the
same school district. She took care of all those things and managed to
move us to a beautiful new house in the same neighborhood, and once
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again, used her creative skills to decorate the home and to create a
beautiful garden out of nothing. The land had been clear-cut, so she had
the chance to start from scratch and made a beautiful garden. Once again,
fruit trees and vegetable plants, plus flowers. She was an artist in all that
she did.
MS. STEWARD: Katherine, let me stop you here for a second. I’m so impressed that she
was able to do this while grieving. Did your parents have formal
educations?
MS. MAZZAFERRI: No. My dad some took college classes at NYU while he was still in
New York, and my mom got her GED when she moved to Philadelphia, so
neither one of them had a college education. But they both got their high
school diplomas.
MS. STEWARD: Your mom had the wherewithal to meet with lawyers, sell the business,
and you moved to a new house all while experiencing profound grief. Can
you talk about your life after that experience?
MS. MAZZAFERRI: Our mother demonstrated resilience. We followed her lead. One of the
beautiful things that my mom cared about so much was music, and she
decided that Valerie and I should have formal music education, even
though she herself had no background in music. She signed us up for
classes and lessons at the New School of Music in Philadelphia. I studied
the cello, and Val studied piano there. She got Valerie a wonderful baby
grand piano. And my mother bought me a beautiful French cello, which I
still have, from a violin maker in Philadelphia. She would love listening to
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the two of us play music together, which we often did. The piano was in
the living room, and so was the cello. The two of us would play while our
mother made dinner. I think these moments were very renewing for her.
She really enjoyed that and so did we.
We had a lot of family. My mom being one of twelve, there were
lots of cousins. My dad had been one of three, plus my paternal
grandmother had seven siblings. There were lots of second cousins, so we
had lots of family visiting us, and we went to New York to visit them.
Those were very good times, important times.
Christmas Eve was always a big event. Before my dad’s death and
after, my mother put on a wonderful Christmas Eve party, the typical
Italian meal with lots of fishes, and my paternal grandmother would
always come as well, and she’d bake lots of cookies. So, it was a very
wonderful time of the year.
MS. STEWARD: In your junior year in high school, you experienced one of the most
profound historical events this country has ever seen, the assassination of
President John Kennedy. Can you discuss the impact of that experience on
you?
MS. MAZZAFERRI: I can remember when John Kennedy died. I can remember hearing about
it from the principal at my high school. I was shocked by his death as I
was later by the death of Reverend Martin Luther King. I felt those losses
keenly, in part, because I knew what it was like to lose somebody special,
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and these were two individuals who were so important to this country. I
felt very saddened by those two deaths.
MS. STEWARD: After junior high and high school, you went on to college. Were you the
first person in your family to go to college?
MS. MAZZAFERRI: Of my parents, I was, certainly. I had other cousins who had gone to
college. My sister went to college. I decided to apply to NYU because my
dad had taken courses there, plus I had family in New York City, and my
paternal grandmother was in Brooklyn. It was a very fun experience. I
brought my cello with me. I played chamber music with various groups
while I was there at NYU.
When I was in high school, my sister had taken me folk dancing at
the art museum in Philadelphia. Some of my friends and I wound up
starting a folk dancing club at NYU. And I got to know the New York
family better. I went on visits with my grandmother to see her siblings and
their children in various boroughs in New York, and my mom’s sisters and
brothers were nearby, so I really had a wonderful family time while I was
at NYU studying Latin American literature. The coursework itself was
both challenging and interesting.
I chose that topic because I love Spanish. And I decided I wanted
to learn it even better, so I attended a program in Guadalajara, Mexico
during my junior year and studied more Spanish. So, college was a very
exciting time for me.
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MS. STEWARD: In addition to your courses, you were also active in the community. Can
you talk about some of your internships and the opportunities and
volunteer activities you did while you were in college?
MS. MAZZAFERRI: I worked with Aunt Florence. She had written and performed the play that
I mentioned. I would go up to Sixth Avenue to her studio and spend time
with her. I’d travel to the schools where she performed this play, doing
whatever needed to be done. For me, it was an experience about learning
what more one could do for the community. Being hands-on with my aunt
every step of the way was very inspiring and fulfilling. It added to my
education.
MS. STEWARD: We’re nearing the end of the foundational years of your life, and when you
look back on your family and the way you grew up, how would you
describe your parents, your grandparents, your aunts and uncles as a unit?
What are the characteristics that you learned from them that have
impacted you in your life and that you feel have been guiding principles?
MS. MAZZAFERRI: When I look back at them, my grandparents and my parents and my aunts
and uncles, all of them in their own ways were creative, caring and
courageous. Three of my grandparents came from another country, and
one married outside of her faith, which I’m sure was so, so difficult. They
were very principled and caring with their families and with others. And
they had very strong values, all of them, my grandparents, my parents and
my extended family. So, I come from a history that was special. I feel very
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lucky to have come from that kind of background. I am still close with
most of my cousins today. Those early connections endured.
There’s one more thing I want to add. When you asked about my
volunteer activities, I wanted to mention this. When I was a junior in
college, I was thinking about what I was going to do with my degree in
Latin American Literature. One of my friends was applying to law school,
and I thought that was very interesting. I asked Aunt Florence what she
thought, and she said to me that there was a Mobilization for Youth Office
right near NYU. She suggested that I see if I could volunteer there and talk
with some of the lawyers and see what I could learn. That’s what I did. So,
for about eight months, I was a receptionist and a librarian. I did whatever
they needed me to do, but I took the opportunity to interview the lawyers
there and ask them what they liked about it and why they became lawyers.
I was so impressed with them. They were dedicated, hard-working
individuals, and I thought I would like to be like them.
MS. STEWARD: Well, thank you, Katherine.