Catherine E. Pardee was the Assessor of Orange, Connecticut from 1947 to 1965.
Catherine had served as the first woman President of the Connecticut Association of Assessing Officers (CAAO). She also served as the Secretary of the CAAO for many years.
Catherine also served on the old Board of Governors of the NRAAO for many years, as well as serving for many years as secretary of NRAAO out of the goodness of her heart.
Catherine was the first woman to attain the CAE designation from the then National Association of Assessing Officers (NAAO), now the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO).
In the fall of 1965 a meeting of the NRAAO Board of Governors, at the Hotel Somerset, Boston, Massachusetts was to be along with other assessors from Massachusetts, Connecticut and the Executive Director of IAAO from Chicago, Illinois.
Cay Pardee was supposed to attend that meeting, however, when a Connecticut assessor stopped at her home, on his way to Boston, to pick her up, he was informed that she has passed away during the night.
Needless to say the sad news upset everyone in attendance that had known Katherine Pardee, an individual who was honest, fair and recognized as a professional in the field of assessment.
The Annual Catherine E. Pardee Memorial Award is given in recognition of outstanding and dedicated service to the NRAAO, which is what Cay Pardee gave of herself so unselfishly.
The sole recipient of this most prestigious award is designated and voted on by the past presidents of NRAAO annually.
The Catherine E. Pardee Memorial Award was created unanimously by the NRAAO Board of Directors at the annual conference meeting held at the Hotel America in Hartford, Connecticut in May, 1966.
The first Catherine E. Pardee Memorial Award was presented at the 1967 NRAAO Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Herbert Shay, assessor of Fairfield, Connecticut was the first recipient.
Since that time the Catherine E. Pardee Memorial Award has been spread quite evenly among all participating Provinces and States of the NRAAO.
| Year | State/Province | Name |
| 2024 | Maryland | Sterling Testerman |
| 2023 | Connecticut | Chris Kelsey |
| 2023 | Connecticut | Mary Huda |
| 2022 | New Hampshire | Bill Ingalls |
| 2021 | New Jersey | Marie Procacci |
| 2020 | Rhode Island | Patti Moreau |
| 2019 | New Hampshire | Ellen Brideau |
| 2018 | Connecticut | Marsha Standish |
| 2017 | Maryland | Bryan Levenson |
| 2016 | New Hampshire | Karen Marchant |
| 2015 | New Jersey | James Mancini |
| 2014 | Rhode Island | Viviane Valentine |
| 2013 | Massachusetts | Everett “Gus” Martin |
| 2012 | Connecticut | Betsy Quist |
| 2011 | Rhode Island | Karen Beattie |
| 2011 | Connecticut | Donna Ralston |
| 2010 | Maryland | Leslie Grant Pruitt |
| 2009 | New York | Thomas & Patricia Frey |
| 2008 | Rhode Island | Raymond E. Beattie, Jr. |
| 2008 | Rhode Island | Linda L. Cwiek |
| 2007 | Massachusetts | Edward Childs |
| 2007 | Massachusetts | Molly Reed |
| 2006 | New Jersey | Thomas G. Glock |
| 2005 | New Jersey | Dorothy S. Kreitz |
| 2005 | New Jersey | Bernard Haney |
| 2004 | Maine | Paul G. Lesperance |
| 2003 | Maryland | Howard Levenson |
| 2002 | Connecticut | Donna Price-Bekech |
| 2001 | Maine | Gerald Daigle |
| 2000 | New Hampshire | Laura Thibodeau |
| 1999 | Delaware | Eddy J. Parker |
| 1998 | New Jersey | Frank Carlet, Esq. |
| 1997 | Maryland | James Sorisi |
| 1996 | Connecticut | Richard Prendergast |
| 1995 | New Hampshire | Karen Marchant |
| 1994 | Connecticut | Anthony Homicki |
| 1994 | Connecticut | Jane Grigsby |
| 1993 | Maine | Michael Austin |
| 1992 | Rhode Island | Stanley Severance |
| 1992 | Rhode Island | Angelo Marino |
| 1991 | New York | James Howarth |
| 1990 | New Jersey | Carolyn Landi |
| 1990 | New Jersey | Victor A. Hartsfield, Sr. |
| 1989 | Connecticut | Robert Coyne |
| 1988 | Massachusetts | Albert E. Mercier |
| 1987 | New Brunswick | Ian MacMichael |
| 1986 | New York | Hollis Sweet |
| 1984 | Rhode Island | Richard M. Bartlett |
| 1970 | Massachusetts | Bernard Shadrawy |
| 1967 | Connecticut | Herbert Shay |