|
Katherine Laurie "Kathy" Wheaton, 1925-2006. A fun loving person, enjoyed by all, was called home March 16, 2006. Kathy enjoyed family gatherings where she displayed her stilt-walking abilities as recently as September 18, 2005. Kathy was born in Pateros, Washington to Agnes (Lorz) and James E. Laurie on January 5, 1925. The family with seven children moved to Bremerton, Washington where Kathy attended high school, graduating in 1942. While still in high school, she took college classes for calculus and trigonometry. Kathy enjoyed reading and shared good books with her friends and neighbors while continuously encouraging young people to read. She always said Scottish people loved to read and she inherited that interest from her father, a good Scot, and her mother, a school teacher. While living at home, she worked as a draftsman for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard where she met the love of her life, Gerald Wheaton, a USN 1st Class Boatswains Mate on September 3, 1943. Soon after that fateful day he shipped out to sea for two years and married her upon his return, August 28, 1945. She was 19, and he changed her life forever. He joined the United States Coast Guard, and she gave birth to three boys in rapid succession before she was 23. Their oldest son, Jimmy, drowned in 1952 at the age of 6. The family traveled from the gulf coast to Alaska with Paul and "Baby" Gerry in tow for 13 years. The couple retired from military life and finally settled in Seattle. Gerry worked at Boeing as a Fire Inspector for twenty years and Kathy gave birth to a daughter, Karla, in 1965. She then worked as a librarian for Karla's elementary school for eight years. The couple retired in 1984 and relocated to New Mexico in 1997 to relax into their golden years with Karla and her family. Kathy is preceded in death by her son, Harold James "Jimmy" Wheaton, her parents, her brothers, Cyril, Jamie and Jack, sister Dottie, and her devoted husband and companion of 59 years, Gerry, last April. Kathy is survived by a daughter, Karla Barela and her husband, Richard; grandsons, Marc, Richard and Patrick, all of their family home in Tome; granddaughter, Morgan of Pennsylvania; son, Gerald "Dewey" and his wife, Jane; son, Paul and his wife, Rosemary; grandson Gerald Douglas; granddaughters Gretchen and Kristin and seven great-grandchildren, all from the greater Seattle area; granddaughter, Georgianna and her husband Ethan and great-grandson Rainy from Florida; two sisters, Paula, of Eastern Washington and Ann, of Michigan. A Goddaughter and niece, Heidi is also from the Seattle area. Also surviving are numerous nieces and nephews from across the United States. Kathy will be lovingly remembered during a Memorial Mass at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Tome on Saturday, April 1, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. with Father Jose Hernandez officiating. A reception will follow at the family home in Tome. Inurnment will take place at Santa Fe National Cemetery on April 3, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. Arrangements by Riverside Funeral Home of Belen 418 W. Reinken Ave. An online guest register is available at www.riversideofbelen.com
|
