Catherine Rose Kennedy Whitney

Catherine Rose Kennedy Whitney, 97, slipped from this life January 8, 2023. Our family lost an amazing lady. She was the last of her generation.

Catherine was born on her grandmother's ranch in Carter County Montana to Wilfred and Roselthy Winchell Kennedy on July 16, 1925. She grew up in and around Ekalaka Montana and graduated from Carter County High School.

After high school she went to Portland Maine to live with her grandmother while working in the shipyard during World War II.

After the war she returned to Montana and attended nursing school until she renewed a friendship with William Whitney, a fellow Ekalakan, who had just returned from war,

They were married March 4, 1946 in Baker Montana and lived in Ekalaka until 1956 when they moved to Miles City with their five children.

Catherine was the "lunch lady"(monitor) at Sacred Heart schools while her children attended there. It was a job which gave her much pleasure as she was fond of all the children.

She led a Brownie troop and a 4-H club.

In the late 1960s and early 70s she worked in the Miles City VA canteen where she met many women whose husbands were in the hospital there. She brought home those who had no where else to spend the night.

Catherine's house was always full of her children's friends and out-of- town nieces and nephews who sometimes spent weeks at a time at her house.

She Belonged to Sacred Heart Parish where she served the church in many capacities including Eucharistic Minister and lector.

She loved to help at Sacred Heart School. She worked with children who needed a hand up with reading and math. She also taught the children to make rosaries to send to missionaries.

Catherine was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Bill; two sons, Jerome and Norman "Red" Whitney; her siblings Mary Kennedy Fletcher and her husband Robert, Tommy Kennedy, and Sister Abbie Kennedy; her brothers-in-law and their spouses: Earl and Mary Whitney, Harold Whitney and Mable Whitney White, Clair and Darlene Whitney, Lester Whitney, and Elwin and Gladys Whitney.

She is survived by a son David Whitney, daughters Rose Ann Mendenhall and Patricia (Michael) Mahan, daughter-in-law Tammy Metcalf, numerous much loved grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and dear nieces and nephews.

Her funeral Mass will be held on Friday, January 20, 2023 at 10 a.m. at Sacred Heart Church in Miles City.