After decades of service to others, Catherine (Cathy) Padilla ended her earthly journey on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at Hendricks Medical Center in Abilene, Texas.
Born in Brownwood on August 2, 1951, Cathy returned here as an adult after living in places as exotic as Florida and Germany. She came home to raise her beloved twin boys, Nathan and Jason Padilla. She wanted to be close to her mother JoAnn Miller and her sisters Christy Storey and Cara Lee Miller.
Cathy worked in a variety of service professions, including being a telephone operator, before she became a nanny and housekeeper. She raised her “other” family – Robert, Nancy, and Elizabeth Romig – from their infancy.
Cathy rose to the challenge of being a single mother, and was active in her sons’ lives: school, church and Boy Scouts. She was kind and patient, always willing to play board games, coloring books, and even teaching the finer points of “The Price is right” to her young charges.
She refused to let poverty, the burning of her family home, or the pains of diabetes and congestive heart failure discourage her or conquer her spirit. Her journals contained the work of a lively imagination. She kept her appreciation of small joys like a Whataburger, her calico cat or a World Wide Wrestling match until the very end.
Cathy was preceded in death by her parents and is survived by a large and loving family including: Jason Padilla and his wife Kristen, children Jeannie and Tanis; Nathan Padilla and his wife Jennifer Lederer; and a host of loving friends. She will be greatly missed.
Memorial services are scheduled at Davis-Morris Funeral Home on Wednesday, April 19, at 10:00 in the morning. Memorial gifts may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
