Catherine L. (Lovelace) Wasson

Catherine Lovelace Wasson     (August 22, 1927 – September 24, 2021)

   Catherine (Kitty to family and friends) was the first child born to Doris and Ralph Lovelace; born in the Roloson Homestead in the Town of Enfield, Tompkins County, August 22, 1927.  She attended one- and two-room schoolhouses in Enfield and Mecklenburg, before high school at Ithaca High, where she graduated in 1944 at the age of sixteen.

   She had participated in a work/study program at Rothschild’s department store during her senior year in high school, and was initially employed to work in the office there.  In her next job, at the home office of GLF, she was the assistant to the head of an accounting division from 1945 to 1953.  She was married to Robert Murray Wasson, then in the US Navy, in March of 1951. When Bob left the Navy he went to work for Burroughs; Kitty and Bob then lived in a sucession of places dictated by his job assignments:  in Binghamton (1953-57), Horseheads (1957-62), Cortland (1962-64), and then Poughkeepsie where Kitty kept the same house on Alda Drive from 1964 until she moved to Longview in Ithaca in March of 2018.  While in Poughkeepsie she was active in the Community United Methodist Church of Red Oaks Mill, and with the church’s charitable outlet, a store known as Second Hand Rose.  While living on Alda Drive she received a great deal of assistance from her friends and neighbors, especially from Dick and Marge Palmer, and she enjoyed many outings with special friend, Polly Huff.

   She was in an independent living apartment at Longview for a little over three years, then moved to assisted living at Brookdale in Ithaca in May of 2021, and began receiving the services of Hospice.  She moved to the Hospicare facility on King Road in Ithaca in early September of 2021.

    She was predeceased by her husband, both parents, a sister, Mary Lehmann, and a nephew, Gary Lehmann.  She is survived by a sister, Ruth Lovelace, two brothers, Ralph (Carol Haskins Shevalier) Lovelace, Jr., and Eugene (Mary Jo Rittinger) Lovelace, and by five nieces: Londa (Gary) VanDerzee, Karen Lehmann, Jo (Brian) Marion, Kristin Lovelace-Ross (Richard Ross), and Shelley (Michael) Lynch, as well as two nephews:  Robert (Valerie Todd) Lovelace, and Gregory (Shelby Clark) Shevalier.  She is also survived by several cousins, many great nieces and great nephews, and a few great, great nieces and nephews.      

A remembrance of Kitty will be observed privately by the family. For additional information please visit www.ness-sibley.com or call 607-387-8151.

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