Catharine Marie Alspach Carr died peacefully on the evening of Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at her home on Vashon Island, Washington. She was eighty-eight years old.
Catharine was born on July 31, 1920 in the rural area of Eagle Township, Hancock County, Ohio to her parents G. Franklin and Clara May (Romick) Alspach. She was one of eight children. Her oldest sister died in infancy. Her oldest brother, Orlo, and her youngest sister, Ellen May, both died in childhood. Catharine grew up on the family farm with her sisters Hildreth, Luella, and Marjorie, and her youngest brother, Robert. She graduated from the Mt. Cory High School in the class of 1938, and then attended Bowling Green State College for two years, earning a Teacher’s Certificate. She taught the third grade class for two years at the Liberty-Benton Elementary School.
Catharine married David William Carr in 1942, when he was an aviator in the U. S. Army Air Corps, stationed in Decatur, Alabama, serving first as a flight instructor and later as an officer in the Air Corps’ Ferry Command. During World War II, they lived in Decatur, then in Great Falls, Montana and in Reno, Nevada. At the end of the war, they returned home to Ohio.
Catharine and David had two children, William David and Cathleen Marie Carr. In addition to being a mother, she was a homemaker and a bookkeeper. In Ohio she pursued further studies in education, nearly completing her four-year degree before she and David moved their family to Anchorage, Alaska, where he took a pilot’s position with the Federal Aviation Administration. During this time, Catharine continued as a homemaker and also worked as a secretary for the Anchorage School District Administration and as an Assistant to the Director of the Anchorage Community College. During her more than fifteen years in Alaska, she and David enjoyed the out-of-doors, including skiing, hiking, fishing, berry picking, and traveling.
In 1974, David and Catharine retired to Vashon Island where they made their home for the remainder of their lives. They both greatly enjoyed their retirement years on Vashon. Both in Anchorage and on Vashon, Catharine served as an ordained Elder of the United Presbyterian Church, and since 1980, she and David were active members of the Vashon United Methodist Church. She had also been an active member of the Vashon-Maury Golf and Country Club, the Vashon-Maury Senior Center, the Children’s Orthopedic Hospital Auxiliary, and a founding member of the Vashon Island Book Club.
Catharine had a life-long interest in and dedication to educational enterprises, especially, in recent years, the “HU” Chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) on Vashon. She was also an avid reader and Mariners’ baseball fan, and enjoyed playing bridge, sewing and quilting, maintaining her home and garden, and supporting the lives of her family and many friends.
Catharine is survived by her son, Bill, and his wife, Beng-Imm Low, of Vashon Island, and by her daughter, Cathy, of Issaquah; her two grandchildren, Joseph Carr Sweeney of Seattle, and Blaine Hart Carr and his wife, Amy, of Austin, Texas; and also a great-granddaughter, Ella Terese, the daughter of Blaine and Amy; and by several nieces and nephews. Catharine was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Ellen Mae, Marjorie, Hildreth, and Luella, and her brothers, Orlo and Robert.
Catharine lived a life of integrity, grace, and loving loyalty to her family, her friends, and her Church and community. We will miss her dearly. May we be comforted by our belief that she is resting peacefully in God’s everlasting embrace.
Requiescat in Pace –
A funeral service for Catharine will be held at the Vashon United Methodist Church on Friday, May 15, at 2:00 p.m., The Reverend Jan Van Pelt officiating, with reception following. A subsequent graveside service and inurnment will take place at the Pleasant View United Methodist Church near Mt. Cory, Ohio on a date to be determined.
In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions be made to the Vashon United Methodist Church Memorial Fund, Box 330, Vashon, Washington 98070, or to the Pleasant View United Methodist Church Memorial Fund, Box 70, Mt. Cory, Ohio 45868.
Please visit our online guest book at www.islandfuneral.com.
(paid obituary)
