CFA JA Spotlight Award Winner 2026
August 4, 2026
Loretta Baugh Awarded the CFA Judges Association 2026 Spotlight Award
Susan Cook Henry
There are very few people left in the Cat Fanciers’ Association’s 120-year history who can match the longevity and CFA experience as Loretta Baugh, who was recently awarded the Judges Association 2026 Spotlight Award and a pin for her 60 years of service as a CFA judge at the recent annual meeting in Syracuse, New York.
Loretta (née Willwerth) grew up with domestic cats, but her fascination with show cats was sparked when she met Richard Gebhardt at a show in New Jersey in the mid-1950s. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about CFA will remember his name, and at least some of the large legacy he left with the organization. Loretta took an interest in Persians, and Richard became her mentor with her first show cat – a red Persian. She registered her cattery, Kittrik (#3355), in 1957 and gained more experience with shorthair breeds, including Siamese and Orientals. However, what Kittrik was most famous for were Manx, and many of today’s U.S. Manx pedigrees will include Kittrik lines. But Loretta admits that dilute Persians (particularly blues and creams) as well as Siamese have always had her heart. She granded her first Manx, the black GC Kittrik’s Katydid, in the early 1960 and continued with her Manx breeding program well into the 1970s. Along the way, she has continued to show a variety of breeds including Burmese (GC Kittrik’s Gung Ho of Silkwood, b. 1966), Persians (GC NW Kittrik’s Broadway Joe, b. 1992), and Cornish Rex (GC NW Richson Marcel Marceau of Kittrik, b. 2003), plus Siamese and Orientals. She also showed the first longhair Selkirk Rex to achieve a national kitten title, GC NW Highlandkatz Beyoncé (2019). Another winner with such an appropriate moniker was her cream tabby shorthair Selkirk Rex, GC GP NW Truebrit Chance Encounter – so named for the occasion of his British Shorthair father’s unauthorized date with a flirty shorthair Selkirk Rex!
Owing to her experience with a variety of pedigreed cats at an early age, Loretta initially applied to the CFA judging program for DOUBLE specialties in 1963, at the age of 19! However, because of potential liability concerns for an underage applicant, her application was held in review until October 1965 – after she had turned 21. At that CFA Board meeting, her application was accepted and she judged her first show the following month as the youngest judge ever accepted into the program. During her long career, she has likely helped train half of CFA’s current panel of judges. To this day, she gives this advice during training sessions: “Judge what’s in front of you today – not last week or last month. It’s not about you; it’s about the cats.”
Turning back the clock to when still living in New Jersey in 1974, Loretta met a gentleman at a show who was also showing a Manx. His name was Tom Baugh, and what started as a show rivalry grew into a love story. Now married for 51 years and living in the Detroit area, Loretta and Tom continued showing together and have exhibited a number of different breeds to high national and regional wins. In addition (since Loretta grew up in a household where Great Danes were raised), she has always had an affinity for large breeds of dogs. Those which have particularly tickled her fancy are Newfoundlands and Great Pyrenees. In fact, she once owned the litter brother to a famous Newfie, one of only two of the breed to win the Best In Show at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club: CH Darbydale’s All Rise Pouchcove (2004). More recently, her dear Bear (a Great Pyrenees) was Loretta’s “heart dog,” who shared many tender moments with one of his best friends, “Moonshine,” a cream British Shorthair. Her current big dog is slightly smaller in stature, yet no less loved – a black and tan Doberman Pinscher.
In addition to her breeding/showing legacy are Loretta’s other commitments to CFA, not only as a judge, but her continuing involvement beyond the judging ring while she and Tom raised four sons (three of which are Eagle Scouts), and maintaining many different roles at local, regional, and national levels for the Boy Scouts of America. As for CFA, she served as a member of the CFA Judging Program Committee from 1999-2003, and was its chair from 2011-2014. As part of the JPC Education subcommittee (for which she earned a CFA Star award), she helped establish excellent and consistent breed presentations for judge and trainee reference. She also served as the Great Lakes regional director from 2004-2014.
Loretta might tell you that her and Tom’s greatest achievements in her life are their sons … and their resulting grandchildren. Three are completing upper education levels, while the newest on the scene is her beloved Maisie, daughter of son Seth and his wife Emily. Maisie is now 14 months old, and gives nothing but delight to her grandparents.
Heartfelt congratulations go to Loretta for such a stellar and continuing career with the Cat Fanciers’ Association!