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Cathryn Louise Anderson Obituary
Description: Cathy Lou Anderson Obituary... Our Heartfelt Condolences To Her Loved Ones...
Cathy Lou
November 21, 1938 — April 30, 2025
Las Animas
Obituary
Cathryn Louise “Cathy Lou” Anderson, PhD passed away peacefully on April 30, 2025 at Bent County Health Care Center in Las Animas, Colorado. She was born November 21, 1938 in La Junta, Colorado to Ross P. Anderson, Sr. and Amy Hunter Anderson.
Cathryn was known to many and by several different names, including Cathryn, Cathy, Katie, Lou, and Dr. Cat. She grew up on the family ranch and could often be found tagging along behind her big brother Rouk or her dad in the family shop or out on the ranch. Cathryn attended Arlington School in Arlington, Colorado until her junior year when she transferred to Ordway High School for her last two years of high school. She enjoyed participating in 4-H with livestock and took home many ribbons. She was an avid life-time student. She obtained her Bachelors of Nursing from The University of Colorado, in Boulder, Colorado. She returned to the family home in Arlington, and she commuted to La Junta to work as a night supervisor at the former Mennonite Hospital. She returned to the University of Colorado to complete a Master’s of Nursing and obtain her Midwifery certification. She was a charter member of The Nurses Association of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In her fifties, she completed a Master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, then completed her doctorate in Public Health also from Johns Hopkins.
Cathryn traveled extensively throughout her career delivering babies across the United States and Mexico, including Denver, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Atlanta. Cathryn enjoyed travel and, in her seventies, traveled to Europe for a Nurse Midwife conference; but no matter where she traveled, Arlington, Colorado was always her home base. In the early 1990’s she retired from active nursing but continued as an active consultant in Maternal Child Health for University Hospital and Rose Medical Center in Denver, Colorado. In 1996, she returned to Arlington, Colorado to provide end of life care to her dad and took over the rural mail route that he had run since 1926. She was a member of the Haswell rural fire department, the Kiowa County Hospital Board and the Kiowa County Library board. In 2022, she was able to participate in the Silver Queen contest at the Colorado State Fair and like everything she did, she did it with her own flair and rules.
She is survived by, nephew, Cecil “CD” Anderson Cheraw, CO, nieces, Patricia “Pat” (Jim) Robbins Alamosa, CO, and Cindy Anderson Jimenez Cheraw, CO; Great-nephews, Robert (Tanya) Ward Alamosa, CO; Lt. James (John) Ward, M.D. Yokosuka, Japan; Nick (Vennessia) Jimenez, III Strasburg, CO; Quentin (Katrina) Jimenez, Northglenn, CO; and Colin Anderson, Cheraw, CO. Great-great nephews and nieces, Benjamin (Katie) Ward, Jenessa Ward, Nicholas Jimenez, IV, Violet, and Oliver Jimenez. Special caregiver, Lorena Esparza, who brought so much joy to Cathryn’s final years. Cathryn is preceded in death by her parents, Ross Sr. and Amy Anderson, brother, Ross “Rouk” Anderson, Jr., sister in-law, Vera Anderson Essary, nephew in-law, Nick Jimenez, Jr., numerous cousins, aunts and uncles.
Visitation will be Thursday, May 8, 2025, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Peacock Memorial Chapel in La Junta. Funeral services will be Friday, May 9, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Jeb Brown of the River of Life Fellowship officiating. A graveside service will follow at 2:00 p.m. at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Colorado.
Donations in Cathryn’s memory may be made to the activities program at Bent County Health Care, Las Animas, Colorado.
Online condolences may be made at www.PeacockFH.com. Peacock-Larsen Funeral Home & Arkansas Valley Crematory is in charge of arrangements.
