Catherine Savage Clifton was born on May 22, 1943 in Greenville, South Carolina. She was daughter to L. Alexander Savage and Margaret Livingston Savage.

Catherine grew up in Camden, South Carolina, and always loved sharing stories about growing up a horse crazy child in horse country. She graduated high school from Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina. She later attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and graduated with an associate's degree in fine arts. Catherine loved classical literature, classical music, musical theatre, ballet, art, geology, genealogy, horseback riding, the many dogs and cats she loved over her life, making pottery and crafts, and world travel. Her love of world travel stemmed from traveling all around Europe when she was 18, and later she even went to Vietnam to work as a civilian employee during the Vietnam war. Later in life, Catherine became a travel agent and was able to continue traveling the world. Some of her more notable trips included Scotland, Ireland, China, Greece, and Peru.

Catherine leaves behind her children, John Fraser Clifton and Margaret Clifton Owensby; her grandchildren: Henry Alan Owensby, James Alexander Owensby, and Kelsey Rian Owensby; her brother, Lawrence Alexander

Savage Jr.; and sister, Martha Savage Campbell.

She is to be returned to the Earth at Ramsey Creek Nature Preserve in Westminster, South Carolina. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Alzheimer's Association, www.alz.org/research; or The Blue Ridge Humane Society, www.blueridgehumane.org.