On Sunday, August 11, 2019, Catharine Keating, loving mother of four, passed away at the age of 99. Cathy was born June 2, 1920, in Derry, Pennsylvania, to John and Mary Olive (Mowry) Yealy. She received her RN degree from Latrobe School of Nursing in 1941, worked at Cook County Hospital, Chicago, 1942-48, then moved to Los Angeles and worked at the Veterans Hospital, where she met her future husband, Dr. Robert Keating, Jr., "across an operating room table" as she put it. Cathy and Bob were married in 1952 and lived in Bakersfield where they survived the 7.3 magnitude earthquake.
Shortly thereafter they moved to San Diego when Bob was called into active duty in the Navy, and finally settled in West Covina where Bob established his private medical practice. They had four children whom Cathy raised single-handedly after Bob’s untimely death in 1963. Cathy and her boys moved to Ventura in 1968 just in time for the flood that destroyed the marina.
Cathy worked for many years as a nurse at Ventura Cardiology Consultants, and later, volunteered at the Community Memorial Hospital gift shop and at St. Anne’s Guild. She loved to play bridge with her close friends, travel with her sisters, and walk on the beach with her miniature poodle. She was fond of zooming down Harbor Blvd. in her T-bird and was quite proud of having ziplined in Costa Rica at age 78.
Cathy was the longest-lived of her six siblings. She is survived by her sons: Robert and his wife Callie, John and his wife Jan, Tom, and Mark; four grandchildren: Ryan and his wife Alex, Chelsea and her husband Brett, Kevin, and Timothy and his wife Dani and their son, Cathy's great grandson, Luca.
A Most Holy Rosary will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 12, 2019 in the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, 757 East Main Street, Ventura. A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 13, 2019 in Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church. Interment will be on Saturday September 14, 2019 at 10:30a.m. in Queen of Heaven Roman Catholic Cemetery, Fullerton Road, Rowland Height.The family requests that in lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Cathy’s name to St. Anne’s at stannes.org, (213) 381-2931.