Catherine 'Cathy' Turner

CATHERINE "CATHY" TURNER

Marion

Catherine "Cathy" Turner, 61, of Marion, died Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha after a short and courageous battle with cancer. Celebration of Life gathering: 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, at Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services in Cedar Rapids. The family encourages guests to wear bright colors to honor Cathy. Private Inurnment: Bluff View Cemetery, Vermillion, South Dakota.

Survivors include her children, Sara Colling (Dennis Sweeney), Abbey (Mike) Pfeiffer, Laura Colling, Liz (Michael) Finley and Nate Turner; 12 grandchildren; sister, Sandi (Denny) Johnson; and many extended family members and friends.

Catherine Mary Brown was born Dec. 24, 1957, in Vermillion, S.D., to Manny and Lucy (Jarchow) Brown. She graduated from Spencer High School in Spencer, Iowa, in 1976. She attended Kirkwood Community College, earning her associate's degree in human resources. Cathy worked as an HR manager for many years.

She enjoyed gardening flowers and plants, bird and squirrel watching, reading novels and keeping up on current world events and politics. Cathy enjoyed interior decorating and was known to paint and remodel as she saw fit.

She was a generous and supportive individual, caring for her parents until their passing and later adopting two of her grandchildren as her own. Family was of the utmost importance to Cathy. She loved her children and grandchildren very much. Cathy was a resilient, determined and strong-willed woman, which was especially exemplified after her diagnosis in May of this year. She will be missed by her loving family.

Cathy was preceded in death by her parents and brother, Tom Brown.

Memorials may be directed to the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy, Hiawatha.

Please share your support and memories with Cathy's family on her tribute wall at www.stewartbaxter.com under obituaries.