Catherine “Kay” Scrafield, 83 Longtime Laguna Beach...

Catherine “Kay” Scrafield, 83

Longtime Laguna Beach resident Catherine “Kay” Scrafield passed

away peacefully at her home Sept. 24, surrounded by her family. She

was 83.

Scrafield was born April 23, 1922, in San Marino, Calif. Her

father, Henry Armstrong, established H. A. Armstrong Co., a

successful contracting business, and her mother, Mildred Armstrong,

was one of the first women architects in the country.

After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Scrafield

attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. In the fall of 1941 she

enrolled at USC, where she pledged Pi Beta Phi sorority. After the

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Scrafield joined the war effort and

went to work in the engineering department of Lockheed Aircraft in

Burbank. Her next move was to the U.S. Weather Department in New York

City, where she met and married Lt. Ivan Peterson in 1943. Their

marriage spanned two decades.

In 1965 she married Fred Scrafield, and in the summer of 1968 they

moved to Laguna Beach, built their dream home on Dartmoor, and

entertained family and friends there for over 35 years. Scrafield was

a major supporter of Roundtable West, Children’s Hospital of Orange

County and the American Cancer Society.

She is survived by her sister-in-law, Faye Armstrong of Laguna

Beach, and her three children and their families: Richard and Paula

Peterson of Goodyear, Ariz.; Christine and Loren Pearson of Rancho

Palos Verdes; Sandy and Robert Woods of Palos Verdes Estates;

grandchildren Scott and Todd Pearson, Ryan Swain and Heather Ragan;

and great-grandson Jacob Pearson.

Scrafield’s ashes will be scattered at sea on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Her family will host a celebration of her life later that afternoon.

Donations in her name can be made to the Children Hospital of

Orange County.