Catherine Rose Deatherage

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Catherine Rose Deatherage, 86, passed away in hospital, after a long illness and surrounded by family on May 30, 2026.

Cathy, as her friends called her, was born in Owen, Wisconsin. Her father, Bernard, was a railroad mechanical technician for locomotives with Santa Fe Railroads and when they met, her mother, Margaret, was a bank teller. As a young girl, Cathy’s family relocated several times whenever her father moved the family for railroad work. Eventually, her childhood family was able to lay down roots and settled in San Bernardino, CA. During this time, one of her favorite childhood memories was about a nine month frame when she was sent to live with her grandparents back in Wisconsin. Her grandmother especially adored her, called her Katcha, and loved to dote on her and showered her with attention, homemade dresses, and fresh cow’s milk from her grandparent’s farm. She and her grandmother shared a lifelong love of lemon candy and lemon pie. The more lemon, and the greater the sweetness, the better!

She grew up in several homes that only pumped water from a well, had an outhouse, a cast iron stove for cooking, and an ice box, and at a time when the family would gather around the radio for news and entertainment. Both of her brothers served in the US Navy, so news from abroad was especially prized. Before leaving Illinois, her family at one point even lived in a railroad boxcar, converted for family living. Surprisingly, there are now B&Bs in similarly converted boxcars, though with greatly advanced amenities, where one can pay to stay for a few days of respite. These old majestic, but incredibly sturdy boxcars, have proven themselves incredibly resilient over the rolling span of numerous decades.

Upon arriving in San Bernardino, CA at the age of 9, her family moved into their first home with a modern kitchen featuring running water, a modern stove/oven, an electric refrigerator, and the most amazing upgrade of them all, a modern indoor bathroom. They were moving up in the world!

In San Bernardino, she attended and graduated from St. Francis Catholic High School and worked at A&W, sometimes as a “waitress” delivering meals on the iconic A&W car door trays, and sometimes as the grill cook. The grill cook work was actually her favorite shift. She enjoyed the work and was happy to help support her family as this was a time when children typically worked in their late teens and contributed all of their earnings to the household kitty to make ends meet.

Upon graduating from high school, she met a tall, dark, and handsome Air Force man, Charles, who became the love of her life. They were married and started their own family, and now an Air Force family, began their career travels across the US and around the globe, living on Air Force Bases in Missouri, Illinois, California, and even two family tours in the Philippines at Clark AFB. During this time they raised four children, Chuck Jr., Debbie, Bernie, and Annette. A fun fact is that Debbie and Annette are named after female actresses, famous in that era; Debbie Reynolds and Annette Funicello. Chuck was named after his dad, and Bernie after Cathy’s oldest brother, Bernard, whom she revered and always looked up to. She was full of loving and heroic stories of her brother Bernard, and enjoyed sharing them with the slightest prompting. He was a very dependable and hard working young man, who contributed muscle and homesteading skills when needed to keep the household running smoothly as their father often worked two jobs to provide for their family and was more of a “city boy”. She often told stories of how Bernard would prepare their free range chickens for dinner, fished in the nearby river, worked in a local butcher shop, delivered the Sun Telegram, the local newspaper, and many other odd jobs, and to top it all off, and to Cathy’s great relief and delight, provide big brother protection as needed for a young beautiful teenage girl leaning to navigate city life.

During the time of raising her own family, as a lifelong lover of learning, she ensured her children were raised, as she was, with a well rounded education that included academics, sports, music, and values based activities including Cub Scouts, Brownies, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4H, to name just a few. She participated in these as well, as a Den Mother and a Brownies Leader. She also volunteered in military organizations such as the GIEEA wife’s club, as a base club president, as well as many other roles within many other community organizations.

Cathy's children’s friends describe her as being a “second mom” to them during their formative years, and she was always there as a listening ear and as one who could somehow find a gentle and encouraging word in all of life’s challenges, especially those faced by military families. She truly lived the Christian ethos of “weeping with those who weep, and and rejoicing with those who rejoiced.” Her children’s friends knew they were always welcome, were always heard, and could always depend upon a cold glass of chocolate milk, a sandwich, or a home baked cookie. In the military community, this kind of “extended family” emotional and physical support was highly valued and often critically needed. Family, friends, and neighborhood children who entered her doorway threshold always knew they were loved and cared for.

As her children grew her love of learning flowed into a wider circle as she began her teaching career, taking classes at community colleges and working as a Teaching Assistant. Upon settling in Sacramento, CA, after Charles’ Air Force retirement, she completed her AA at American River College and her BA, Masters, and then Teaching Credential, at Sacramento State University.

She taught for over three decades at St. Patrick’s and St. Lawrence Catholic schools, both in Sacramento, where she also served in administrative roles as vice principal and principal. When St. Lawrence school closed, her love of teaching compelled her to continue working as a substitute teacher in many local public schools. Through all of this she continued to provide a loving home for her family, attending to teenage angst and bandaging up wounds, both emotional and physical, while welcoming friends and family into her home and preparing delicious home cooked meals. And though her children can all attest to the fact that she favored teaching over cooking, mealtimes were always treated as special and she had her family favorite dishes. She cooked up the best fried rice and chicken and dumplings east of Eastport, Maine, with these two dishes representing her greatest culinary achievements and those most requested by family and friends. Her potato salad and coleslaw were also noteworthy and second to none. Her growing teenage boys ensured that leftovers were a rarity, and if you were a little too slow at her dinner table, seconds were nowhere to be seen.

Throughout all the years noted above, Cathy can best be described as a woman of intense resilience who endured many losses in life, yet who continued on with love and dedication for her family and her students. She lost her third child, Michael, just six hours after birth, yet found the inner strength to overcome and continue on with raising her family with love and devotion. She lost her loving husband, Charles, when she was only 50, yet found the inner strength to continue teaching and watching grandchildren after school. Twelve years later, she lost her youngest son, Bernie, yet once again found the inner strength to continue teaching and pouring her love into her family, now comprising of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and yes, even in-laws and out-laws. Then, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and given three to six months to live, her resilience showed through with intense brightness yet again as she continued on for another nine years, outliving everyone’s expectations and astonishing her skilled and compassionate cadre of doctors, nurses, and caregivers.

Even more remarkable, when traveling to the hospital for infusion therapy, an MRI appointment, a doctor’s office for a checkup, or a test of one sort or another, she always had a new joke to share with the caregiver attending to her on that occasion. She would get that characteristic twinkle in her eye, and playfully utter her favorite phrase, “Do you mind if I tell you a joke?” Of course, they always complied, after all, how can one refuse a lady in her 80’s with a twinkle in her eye and a smile dancing across her face, who is also coming in for life saving treatment? She took great advantage of these situations, of course, and soon had the attending caregiver laughing as the two of them shared a fun and poignant moment in the everyday life of hospital visits and medical treatments. They both benefited, and in this manner, she birthed smiles and made new friends everywhere she went and always found a way to bring the gift of humor to lighten a doctor or nurses' day and share her positive spirit.

In her final years, she enjoyed the fruits of a well lived family life, and relished attending graduations, performances, weddings, baptisms, birthday parties, Christmases, Easters, Fourth of July celebrations, and all manner of events that bring a family and friends together to celebrate and make memories.

Catherine was preceded in death by her husband, Charles, and her sons, Michael and Bernie. She is survived by her son Chuck, and her daughters, Debbie and Annette.

We were all blessed to share in her presence, strength, playfulness and sense of family and community in many ways throughout our lives. In the spirit of her love, resilience and humor, please join her family and friends at her celebration of life service to pay tribute to and remember the beautiful soul that is Catherine.

June 19, 2026 at 10 AM

East Lawn Cemetery & Memorial Park

5757 Greenback Lane

Sacramento, CA 95841