MEETING THE PARENTS (#11): As you would expect, Cathy’s parents were wonderful. They came from St. Louis, where Cathy’s Grandfather was a watchmaker and Cathy’s Dad followed in his footsteps. Her parents went to Estes Park on their honeymoon and fell in love with Colorado. As soon as they could, they came back and bought a one acre lot on the outskirts of Boulder, overlooking Baseline Lake.
They built a 3 bedroom, one bath house, over a basement and garage, in 1957. Then came the children, 5 girls. To hear Cathy tell it, since she was the oldest, everything was always her fault. And sometimes it was. Like smashing sister Christy’s finger with a rock to see if blood was red or blue. And poor Dad, 5 girls and one bathroom.
On the plane Cathy asked me not to say anything about getting married until she had a chance to talk to her parents. She didn’t have an engagement ring yet, but that’s another story. The first night over dinner, we were all talking and I said, “After we get married….” Oops! “Mr. Pettibone, may I have your permission to marry your daughter?”
I see where Cathy got her sense of adventure. Every year at Easter break Mom and Dad would take the five girls out of school for an extra week and drive in a Rambler Station Wagon pulling a popup tent trailer to the beach in Mexico. When the girls got older, Cathy was starting college,
Mom decided she and Dad would rent the house, take the other 4 girls, and join the Peace Corps. Their assignment fell through so Mom got them jobs as medical missionaries in Nepal. Mom was a lab tech and Dad was Mr. Fit-it. Cathy says Dad could keep an old X-ray machine running with paper clips. My favorite story: When Dad started as Head of the Maintenance Department his staff would squat on the floor to work. He decided they would build a workbench. When it was finished and he came in the next morning, all three men were squatting up on the workbench, hard at work! They worked in Nepal for 15 years and befriended many Nepalese families which immigrated to Boulder because of the similar climate. We always ate at an authentic Napali restaurant when we came to visit, and Cathy’s parents were always friends with the owners.
I also see where Cathy got her compassion. We we went into downtown Boulder to site see and a ragged teenager asked Mom for money for food. She gave him $5, but also sat him down for a talk, explaining that he was heading for trouble and telling him where to go for help. Cathy is just like her Mom and is helping support a number of families during the pandemic, committed to using half of her social security check each month.
My Mother died of cancer in 1997, so I was thrilled to get another Mom, and have two great Dads!
