My junior and senior year roommate and fellow music major, Cathy died
at age 57 of pancreatic cancer, probably related to the diabetes she’d
suffered for several years. In some senses, she had a tragic
life; not married until age 28, she was widowed in little more than a
year, when her husband, Don Sedore, was killed on his way to work (his
car stalled on a railroad track). Her older sister, a school
teacher with whom she later shared a house died way too young of
cancer. Cathy never pursued her music professionally, but worked
at a day job that allowed her time and energy to participate in a fine
church choir, bell choir, and the Flint Festival Choir, which performed
with the Flint Symphony Orchestra.
We saw each other periodically when one of these choirs came to NYC to
perform, and I became aware of her struggle with diabetes. After
our 35th Carleton reunion, which I was trying to talk her into
attending, I sent her a packet of materials and souvenirs from our fun
days on campus and around town. Subsequently, her younger sister,
Christie (also a Carleton alum) was kind enough to write to me during
Cathy’s last days and again after her funeral. She was feeling
bad in July 2002, had the usual tests and delays in diagnosis, and
eventually was found to have pancreatic cancer, from which she died
only a few months later, on September 29. I was able to speak
with her 5 days before that and realized how bravely she’d accepted her
fate. (I’m sure I could never have such grace and peace under
similar circumstances!) Cathy’s funeral service was held at her home
church, the First Presbyterian Church in Flint, with interment
following at McBride Cemetery, McBride, MI.
I look back at some of our sporadic correspondence and realize that for
her too the memories of Carleton were strong. At Christmas
2001, for instance, she was singing in Maurice Duruflé’s
“Requiem” and recalled how she had first learned the piece in 1967at
Carleton. (We shared the job of chorus librarians, first for the
Woodwards and later for Bill Wells.) Although she was able
to get to campus on a trip or two with her sisters, I’m sorry she never
attended one of our reunions.
