Cathleen C. Hunter

Cathleen Hunter, was born March 3, 1923, in New York City, to Maurice and Annie Callaghan, Irish immigrants from Co Cork and Co Galway respectively. She died at her home at Sterling House in Vero Beach on February 21, 2015, just 8 days short of her 92nd birthday. For just over 65 years she was married to her soul mate, Bill Hunter, who passed away in June of 2008. Their love provided a model for their three daughters of a relationship steeped in companionship, and mutual support and respect – a life truly shared. Although Dad, a gregarious cock-eyed optimist, was someone gifted to see opportunity and often initiated the major changes in their lives, no observer would ever doubt that he regarded Mom as his equal in every measure. One rarely saw them apart, especially in retirement, as they preferred each other�s company to that of all others.

Mom�s seemingly ordinary, yet clearly extraordinary, life can be divided into three parts �daughter, married woman, widow. As a young woman she was known as Cat to her friends and to her Irish family in St. Albans NY. Her Irish immigrant family was anxious to assimilate and lose their outward �irishness�, but they also fiercely clung to their culture at the same time � using it as a reference point in this strange, fast-paced, and sometimes confusing new country.

After high school she met Dad. Dad called her Kay, perhaps as a nod to the diminutive popular with so many big band singers of the time. Cathleen would remain Kay throughout her married life.

They married in 1945, and spent the first months of their marriage in Lawton, Oklahoma while they waited for dad�s discharge from the service. Returning to civilian life on Long Island, they made their first home, which they built themselves – in such a typically mutual way – from a kit bought from a catalog. They raised three daughters, Candee, Laura and Pat in several homes on Long Island, the last being on an idyllic cul-de-sac in Greenlawn, Huntington Township. Mom was always known in the family for her �psychic� connection with her children; she always seemed to just know �. Laura, particularly recalls Mom�s knowing about a punish assignment on Manchuria. We all became believers in Mom�s uncanny �Knowing� after that one. Mom really enjoyed her family; they were the center of her life.

With her children nearly grown, Kay realized a lifelong dream by returning to college and securing a degree in library science. Although she once had hoped to be a PE teacher, she found her passion in the library. Books had always held a place of reverence in her life and it seemed to be a special blessing to be qualified to guide and encourage young readers as a school librarian. After Dad retired they moved, along with youngest daughter, Pat, still a teenager, to Florida where Mom worked in the Indian River public library and then founded St. Helen School Library.

Mom always loved to travel and there were many family vacations up and down the east coast of the country, each and every moment documented exhaustively on every new and cool, still or video camera Dad could get his hands on. These family vacations reached their epitome in an extended and memorable journey to the west coast, touring the many western states in a motor home and even visiting a newly opened Disneyland. All these trips were great fun and provided wonderful memories shared by the whole family.

After retirement, the travel bug remained firmly entrenched in Mom and after several trips �just the two of them� – to Ireland to explore their roots, and to other European countries – Mom and Dad fulfilled her �dream�. They took a several month trip around the world. They visited nearly every continent save Antarctica, travelling on their own timetable, meeting people, taking photos, having adventures but always enjoying one another�s company.

Mom�s third act came sadly in 2008 when Dad passed away. She lived alone for the first time in her life, choosing to continue her activities as she had when they were together. Her love of exercise, especially aerobics and yoga, was unflagging even as she aged (a bit) and she often expressed her indignance if anyone thought she couldn�t keep up with the 40 year olds. And, as usual, she was often right in her assertion.

In 2009, at age 86, she joined Candee, her husband, and some family friends on what was to become her final overseas trip – a whirlwind, three-week tour of Ireland – from north to south, from east to west. Mom finally had an opportunity to meet relatives in Co Cork – in Ovens, the small village her father had emigrated from. Mom was amazed to actually see and touch the baptismal font where her own father had been christened in the late 1800�s. This physical connection to her family roots had the powerful feeling of a �coming home.� Mom met family she never knew she had and she brought to them the great gift of closure � the family had wondered for over a hundred years whatever had become of their son/cousin/uncle Maurice. This encounter led to a satisfying and ongoing correspondence with Mary O�Callaghan, and an opportunity to finally belong to that extended Irish family of origin, a void filled at the last.

Unfortunately, it was just a couple of years after Dad�s passing that Mom had a bit of an injury that precipitated her move to Sterling House where she became, in her final and perhaps, most personal and individual iteration, Cathleen. Despite initial misgivings about the move, Sterling House became her home and she made many new friends, particularly among the staff who enjoyed her quick wit and engaged intelligence. Mom continued to read voraciously and loved hearing from family members far away. She continued her nearly weekly correspondence with her oldest friend, Kitty, until her death on Saturday, February 21. And most certainly continued her enduring love for her daily cup of tea! The day wasn�t complete without the morning cup and a real treat was an evening cup-(and perhaps a slice of crumb cake). She was a devout, life-long Catholic, attending Mass nearly each Sunday, even in her final weeks. Cathleen, will be very much missed by her 5 grandchildren and their spouses and 7 great-grandchildren, as well as her three daughters and sons in law.

In many ways, Mom�s life together exemplified the best of her generation � optimistic, can-do, a strong belief in the power of family and parenthood, faith in the future and an undiminished path forward.

For Cat, for Kay, for Cathleen. It was a life lived always in the close and gentle embrace of love and good fortune.

A Funeral Mass will be held 10 a.m., Saturday, March 14, 2015 at St. Helen Catholic Church, 2085 Tallahassee Ave., Vero Beach.