Kathryn Baily Westman, 95, opera singer

Kathryn Baily Westman, 95, of Narberth, an opera singer and voice teacher to generations of Philadelphia area music students, died Thursday, March 24, of a pulmonary embolism at Lankenau Medical Center.

Mrs. Westman was known for her beautiful soprano voice, her service to the tiny Montgomery County borough of Narberth, and her love of life, her family said.

Her musical career began early in the family home on Dudley Avenue. Her mother, Mildred W. Baily, was a teacher of piano and voice who held musical evenings in which her children participated.

On one such evening in May 1936, Mrs. Westman, then Kathryn Baily, 15, played the piano and sang with Charles V. Westman, whom she later married.

"They had so much fun singing together," said daughter Susan Snow. "They were childhood sweethearts. He lived in Bala Cynwyd, but they attended the same church."

Our Town, the weekly newspaper of the Narberth Civic Association begun in 1914, described the evening musicale as "very successful."

She followed her mother into the music world, training with Euphemia Gregory, a voice teacher at Curtis Institute, although Mrs. Westman did not matriculate at the school.

She sang La Bohème with the American Opera Company in 1947 when the company was based in Philadelphia, and later Madama Butterfly with the Washington National Opera, now part of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

She performed in recitals at the Academy of Music and Carnegie Hall and was frequently heard on Philadelphia radio. She even did USO shows stateside during World War II.

The performances her daughter remembered most vividly, however, were the Christmas pageants staged at the Center City Strawbridge & Clothier, in which Mrs. Westman played Mary. "They put on the pageant in the store auditorium," Snow said. "The staging and costumes were exquisite."

In the summers, Mrs. Westman packed up her two children and went to Eaglesmere in the Poconos. While a nanny watched the little ones, Mrs. Westman performed at the resort hotels for summer guests.

"It was quite a childhood," her daughter said.

Mrs. Westman was a resident teacher at the Settlement Music School in Germantown from 1968 to 2005, coaching hundreds of vocalists of all ages and backgrounds. She didn't hesitate to tackle music from different genres.

Soprano Karen Slack, one of her protégés, went on to star with the Metropolitan Opera. Boyz II Men, the Philadelphia-based R&B vocal group known for its a cappella harmonies, sought out Mrs. Westman for coaching.

"She called her teacher and said, 'What do I do with them?' " Snow said, and quoted the teacher's reply. " 'What you would do with any voice.' "

During July Fourth celebrations in Narberth, Mrs. Westman sang the National Anthem.

She was cofounder with Emily Parkin in 1967 of the Narberth Improvement Cleanup Endeavor, known as NICE. The nonprofit planted and tended flower beds on public space surrounding the Narberth Train Station and on the railroad bank along Haverford Avenue between the train station and North Wynnewood Road.

"There was no water source in the train station, so we would lug these big jugs of water there," Snow said. "As teenagers, you can imagine how much we liked that."

Mrs. Westman was a lifetime member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Narberth, where she was active in church activities.

"Her religious strength carried our whole family," Snow said. "She was the most positive, kind, and gracious person - and sharp as a tack."

Besides her daughter, she is survived by a son, Karl; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and a brother and sister. Her husband died in 2009 at age 90.

A visitation at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 30, will be followed by an 11 a.m. funeral service at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 196 Woodbine Ave., Narberth. Interment is in St. Paul Cemetery, Ardmore.

The family has established the Kathryn B. Westman Vocal Scholarship for Settlement Music School students showing extraordinary potential. Donations may be made via www.smsmusic.org/giving/. Donors should indicate the gift is in memory of Kathryn Westman.

bcook@phillynews.com

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