Obituaries

Catherine Mary Downing, 56

Died: Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Catherine Mary Kelly Downing died March 3, 2010 of cancer at Hospice of Arizona in Peoria, she was 56.
Catherine was born April 30, 1953 to Frank H. and Petronella Kelly in Butte, Montana.
She started taking piano lessons in 1962. It was the beginning of a love affair that would last her whole life. In high school, she was an accompanist for the choral groups and ensembles. She earned excellent and superior ratings at the music festivals for her solo work. She met her future husband, Dan Downing, when they were accompanists for high school musicals.
After graduating from Butte Central High School in 1971, she attended Montana State University.
Catherine and Dan were married in 1974. Since she was working in the admissions office of Butte's St. James Hospital at the time, the wedding was held in the hospital chapel at noon so co-workers could attend on their lunch hours.
After brief stays in Missoula, Montana and Lewiston, Idaho, they moved to Billings, Montana. While they lived in Billings, Catherine worked at Security Bank. She also played the piano for the Security Singers. She was later credit manager of Aldrich and Sons Lumber. While at Aldrich's she developed an affinity for the smell of freshly sawed wood and certain cuts of lumber. In later years, she found it comforting to stop by Home Depot occasionally for an aromatic lift.
She attended Rocky Mountain College for a short time. It was there she began her study of law.
Children Kelly and Anne were born in Billings. The family moved to Puyallup, Washington in 1986. On Christmas Day 1987 twins Andy and Danny were born. While in Puyallup, Catherine worked in banking and mothering.
In 1992, they moved to the Phoenix area. She graduated at the top of her class when she became a paralegal. She worked for various attorneys in both large and small practices. Most recently she worked at the Arizona Attorney General's office.
Since 1993, she had been the pianist at Spirit of Hope United Methodist Church.
Catherine's friends were lawyers, musicians and anyone who either had character or happened to be one.
She was an accommodating individual who was known to nab culprits in the middle of the night so frightened children would sleep.
She loved to read and followed the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals with a sometimes startling passion.
Catherine was a person of stature and compassion who found delight in an odd turn of phrase or events. She would decipher nuances of the most complicated legal case and play the most challenging piano pieces. Her mastery of rhythms was not only moving to hear, it would also at times move the piano itself. When she played duets or two piano arrangements, she was often second piano but never second fiddle. Her Latin was said to be good enough to converse with the pope. Although she said it of others, she was definitely one of God's finer efforts.
Her parents preceded her in death. She is survived by sons Kelly, Andy and Danny and daughter Anne Downing. She is also survived by grandson Owen Espino-Downing and former husband Dan Downing. They are all in the Phoenix area. Also surviving are sister Teresa Snyder and her husband RC of Missoula, MT; sister and brother Mary and Dominic Kelly of Butte, MT; brother Frank and his wife Sue of Anchorage, AK. Surviving nieces and nephews are Jim and Deann Snyder and Matthew, John and Sarah Kelly. Aunt Dorothy Ferrando and her son Mike of Pasadena, TX also survive.
Services will be held at Spirit of Hope United Methodist Church of Peoria, 14403 N 75th Avenue, on Sunday, March 7 at 2 pm. The Rev. Pam Wagner will officiate.

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