Wife of Cuban Electric company VP and pal of Cuba’s president.
Ilma Stafford-Greene (1880-1973)
Ilma Stafford-Greene’s first husband, Henry Catlin, was an international lawyer and banker and friend of Cuba’s President Gen. Gerardo Machado. Before the Cuban Revolution erupted in 1953, Ilma and Henry frequently entertained Cuban officials when they visited New York.
Ilma Marie Pratt married Henry in Manhattan in 1904. He was vice president of American & Foreign Power Co., a major subsidiary of Electric Bond and Share Group—a holding company organized by General Electric. Foreign Power controlled gas and electric utilities in Central and South America, India, and China.
Henry was born in Maryland in 1874 to Joseph Albert Catlin and the former Mary Alexander Page. A history buff, Henry was a member of the Maryland Tercentenary Commission, organized to mark the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Maryland by the second Lord Baltimore. Henry owned seven large farms in Kent County, Maryland. He and Ilma divided their time between an apartment overlooking Gramercy Park in New York City and their Maryland estate.
Their Colonial-era home, the Hynson-Ringgold House, overlooked the Chester River in Chestertown, Maryland and later became the residence of Washington College’s president. The home served as a drinking club for the Redcoats during the Revolutionary War and hosted George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Sam Houston, and other notables. In 1932, Ilma sold the original paneling over the fireplace in the East Room to the Baltimore Museum of Art, where “The Chestertown Room” can still be seen. That paneling features a carving of Lord Baltimore’s two ships, the Ark and the Dove.
Henry died of a heart attack on September 26, 1932, shortly after watching the Max Schmeling-Mickey Walker boxing match at Madison Square Garden Bowl. He was 58.
After Henry’s death, Ilma traveled frequently to Europe, where she met her second husband, Eyler Stafford-Greene. They were married in October 1950, in Dartford, England. For the rest of her life, Ilma traveled between the United States and Europe, frequently crossing the Atlantic on luxury cruise liners. On September 28, 1973, she had a stroke and died in Rapallo, Italy. She was 93. Her ashes are buried in a cemetery in Genoa.
Her estate planning included The New York Community Trust. An unrestricted fund in her name has supported a variety of nonprofits including FPWA, Urban Bush Women, and Cause Effective.