On Jan. 31, 2025, Catherine Lucille Hudson danced off this mortal coil and went on to join the numerous loved ones she so dearly missed.
She was born on Dec. 30, 1947, to Bill and Mary Ellen VanKirk at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. She was the second of five daughters. As a toddler, she moved with her family to Cheyenne, Wyoming, while her dad was stationed there with the U.S. Air Force during the Korean Conflict. They returned to Rochester after the war.
In 1966, after graduating from Lourdes High School, she went on to earn her LPN and, soon after, she and her best friend, Ellen, packed their bags and moved to Greeley, Colorado, to begin their nursing careers. It was in Greeley where she met her future husband, Lee Hudson, a man with a heart as big as her own. They married in Greeley on Nov. 6, 1971, when she immediately gained three stepchildren, Kathie, Cliff and Jim, whom she loved as her own.
Lee and Cathy relocated to Lakewood, California, in 1974 where their son, Seth, was born. In 1976, they again relocated to their big old house on Cooks Hill Road in Centralia, Washington. Cathy was employed at Providence Hospital right up the road for 35 years. She earned her RN in 1987 and was a nurse manager of several units over the years.
After her retirement in 2012, she worked three years as a hospice nurse until Lee's health required her to stay home and care for him as her final patient. She lost Lee in 2015. Cathy continued to volunteer for several years in the community in various capacities at St. Mary’s church and Possibilities Women’s Center.
She is preceded in death by her husband, parents and sister, Ann Eggleston. She is survived by her three sisters, Mary Beth Nelson, Patricia Tupper and Jeannie Savage, all of Rochester, Minnesota; four children and, in addition to her 11 biological grandchildren, and even more great-grandchildren, so many people that called her “Mom” or “Gramma” or “Aunt Kate” that it would be impossible to try to name or enumerate them. Just know that all held equal place in her heart.
Throughout her final days, many visited to share numerous stories of the ways that she impacted their lives through their best and worst moments. She expected the best of you. She didn’t judge you in your darkest moments. She never held back when you needed correction. She bore you up when you felt you could sink no lower. She advocated for you. She empowered you. She celebrated every success, amplified every victory, and claimed none of it as her own. She was a force to be reckoned with, a shoulder you could always cry on and a person who never turned you away in a moment of need. She was human and, as such, was not perfect. But she was as perfect as one could aspire to be.
Cathy passed peacefully late in the evening of Jan. 31 at Providence Centralia Hospital, where she gave so much of her life and love.
A memorial service is being planned for March 23, at the Virgil R. Lee Building at Recreation Park, located at 221 SW 13th St., Chehalis.
In lieu of gifts or flowers, please consider making donation in Cathy’s name to Possibilities Women’s Center in Centralia or Providence Southwest Washington Foundation.
To view her memorial page online, please visit https://newellhoerlings.com/obituaries/catherine-hudson-2025.
