Cathy Bynum Maurer Memories

I have many memories of Cathy. Not the least, the memory of a caring, happy, helpful, thoughtful person where nothing was too much trouble for her friends.

APPROACHABLE

I met Cathy through my husband Robert (Eddie’s best man). She was very accommodating and immediately I felt as if I had known her for the longest time. She was very easy to talk to. I almost felt that I could tell her anything straight away. As the years passed I realised that I could confide in her and was assured of an appropriate honest answer to any queries/problems.

THE HOUSE

I remembered going to her house in Croydon and thinking "what a beautiful home". I watched with anticipation which room she would tackle next with her vision of colours and ideas and she never failed to impress me with the results.

I remember Cathy’s love of cats and Robert felt quite honoured to be asked to cat sit one weekend for them (even though later I found that I was allergic to one of them).

HORTICULTURE

Cathy was the only person that I, as an "over-emotional" bride, could go to ask to arrange the flowers for my wedding day. Without seeing any pictures, she ordered my bouquet and that of the bridesmaids (using the Latin translation, I might add) without consulting me and the first I saw of them was on the big day itself! Obviously there was no need to worry because she picked the best combination of flowers that complimented the bridesmaids and myself. There were numerous comments on the day as to how wonderful the flowers were

YOUNG

To me Cathy will always be young, not only in her attitude to life but ETERNALLY to everyone who knew her.

Kathy Heading

(From Eddy: Please find attached some comments I received from Cathy's friend here in London. Monica was probably one of the last friends that Cathy made and always enjoyed their get togethers. Monica's husband Raja specifically bought Monica a cell phone last Christmas, so that they would not miss each other at the tube station. This seems to have happened a lot in the months around us moving to Tamarisk.)

Monika, England

I am Monika, one of Cathy's friends in London. We originally met in autumn 1997 when we both attended a 3 month Garden Design course in the Chelsea Physic Garden in London. At that time I had just retired and fulfilled a long harboured wish of learning a bit more about Garden Design, basically to re-design our own little garden which materialized then immediately the following spring (1998). Cathy took great interest in my project and came often to look at it. As we live very close to Kew Gardens, the botanical garden of London, we often combined these visits with a stroll through Kew Gardens as well. Her plant knowledge was far superior to mine, especially as she continued with further courses We both shared the love for nature, plants, flowers, design and never managed to come out of a garden center or nursery empty-handed!

During the summer months, we often visited historic gardens and houses outside London. I would come per train to Croydon, (her previous house), where she would pick me up by car and we would either stop over at her house to show me the progress in the decoration work she and Eddy had achieved, or we would go straight to our chosen destination, mostly in the Kent countryside area. She would do all the driving and I would invite for lunch. Oh, yes, we enjoyed a lovely lunch at our outings. Over lunch or coffee, we would have lively chats about our families, our hobbies, have a good moan and groan what we did not like in the UK, etc. The National Health Service, Public traffic, etc, etc. She loved Germany, (my home), especially Munich and often compared situations here and there.

I wonder whether the love for Munich had something to do with the fact that she met Eddy there?

She also loved France and her dream was also to have a house in the French countryside. She would show me estate agents publications of huge and isolated countryside houses with lots of ground around and I would say: "Cathy, how will you ever cope with such big grounds or large properties?" But she loved the space; all the average sized English houses and grounds did not impress her much.

In the winter months we would venture out on our-what we called-"culture days" in the heart of London. We would visit different museums, art galleries, exhibitions, etc. We would meet up at the nearest underground station to our selected venue, have a nice lunch again and enjoy lively discussions about the things we had seen, liked or hated. Oh, how I will miss all this!

Now I will find myself going on my own not having proper lunch as it is not fun alone, probably just have a cup of coffee and when my thoughts wander...

Doreen Dopico

I had my "bachlorette" party in Munich and a whole bunch of us flew from Miami to stay in Maria Tapia's apartment.

The night of the party, we were making margaritas but ran out of ice early on. Cathy was on her way to join us and called to ask if we needed anything. We all immediately yelled for Maria NOT to ask her to bring any ice. We laughed until we cried over this. Cathy had a dear cat that passed away during the winter and hadn't buried the poor thing since the ground was frozen still. It was in her freezer waiting for the "thaw".
Thanks, Doreen Dopico

Hal Gray
Rensselaer, Indiana

It was with great sadness that I received the news that Cathy had passed away. I express my sympathy to all her family.

I taught music in the Rensselaer Central School Corporation (Rensselaer, Indiana U.S.A.) for thirty-five years. I had all three of the Bynum children in class, Cathy, Susan and Sherman. They were a joy to teach and it was a pleasure to have had them as students.

I have had thousands of students over these many years and have lost track of many of them. I never saw them after they left elementary school and it may sound strange to the reader that I still have mental pictures of them as they were at age 12. I know that they have grown up but still that image is etched in my memory. Almost every day I see a former student and have no knowledge of who they are until they tell me their name, then I can update them in my mind.

I did not know what Cathy had done after her school years and only recently discovered, through a mutual friend of her family, that she had married Eddy Mauer and was living in England. I received her e-mail address and sent her a message and received the nicest response. She told of living in Munich for five years and meeting Eddy, being married and moving to London and had just recently moved to Bognor Regis on the South Coast and that she and her husband were very busy with their new home and grounds. I replied to her concerning our stay in Munich and my life in general since I retired in 1986. I have corresponded with e-mail friends in Bristol and Keynsham for some time and was looking forward to hearing more about Cathy's life in England, but alas, our communications were cut short by her untimely death.

She was a most pleasant young lady, as all of the Bynum children were, and I hope that one day I might meet Eddy. There are several of her classmates that still live in and around Rensselaer. If you do not have the graduation photo of Cathy, I might be able to find a 1965 Chaos (the school yearbook) and send the photo on to this web site.

I wish there were words to help her husband and family at a time such as this, but being none, perhaps the thoughts of their many friends might, in some small way, help them through this very, difficult time.

Don Bell

Eddy
You do not know me, but I worked with Cathy in coverage at System One.We here in Miami would always joke about transferring in Atlanta no matter where you were going to as a final destination. I have only known two people in my entire life that have left this world & gone direct to heaven. And yes Cathy is one of the two.

David Marrero

I met Cathy under somewhat unusual circumstances. She was the former sister-in-law of my wife. It is always odd to meet the people who shared a significant part of your beloved's life before you got there. Cathy was passing through Indianapolis and wanted to visit my wife Kay who was married to her brother for 12 years. Naturally, I was apprehensive, but cathy immediately made me feel incredibly at ease. Indeed, she viewed me on my own merits and extended her love of my wife to me. I have rarely met such a gracious and insightful person. Our first meeting turned into an interesting friendship that included visits in the U.S., Ireland, and England.

It is hard for me to reconcile Cathy's death. She was so full of life that it seems incomprehensible that she should leave us so suddenly. But having the experience of having both of my sister die both young and unexpectedly, I offer these thoughts...

The Church teaches us that we are spirits. That bodies should be lent us, while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or in giving love to others, is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes, and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid become an encumbrance, and answer none of the intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them. Death is that way.

Cathy was invited to a most excellent party that is to last forever. Our loved one's chairs were ready first, and they have gone before us. We could not all conveniently start together: and why should you and I grieve at this, since we will one day follow, and know where to find them?

Kathi Meddles

I decided to post the story that I shared at Bynum's memorial in Denver on June 26, 2994. Cathy was always Bynum to me, maybe it’s because I’m a Kathi too. I met Bynum through Tina Pederson in the early 70’s, we were all service reps at ol’ Ma Bell. Then for various reasons, my crazy first marriage being the main one, Bynum and I just got disconnected for quite a period of time. Then one day, I think it was in ’79 or ’80, we ran into each other downtown. We were both still at Ma Bell. She had moved on be a CSR (Customer Service Representative)in Business Sales working with large business customers. I still remember how she looked that day: she was dressed to the nines, she wore this awesome light green suit with little strappy heels and dangly earrings. I was working as a manager in corporate at the time in the same building and we immediately reconnected our friendship.

We starting going to out to lunch on a pretty regular basis and would people watch on the 16th street mall. We would also shop, we know how Bynum loved to shop. Back then I actually took time off for lunch, probably due to Bynum's influence. She always said there’s more to life than work. I was pretty wild back then, she called me "Jekyll and Hyde" (Mountain Bell manager by day, partying hippie by night). When Halloween rolled around I bugged Bynum about coming to my Halloween party. I had just met my husband Bob and we were having the first of 20 years of Halloween parties. She said that she didn’t "dress up" and that if she came to the party, she was coming as a CSR dressed in her three piece business suit. She ended up coming to the party with Tina. Bynum came as a scarecrow and Tina came as a cat. We had a great time and she got to meet a lot of my other friends. You know it came to me as I was looking through my old pictures that she was just giving me a hard time about not liking to "dress up". I found all kinds of pictures with Bynum donning reindeer ears, the Rudolf nose or the silly "cracker" hats we would wear when we had our Christmas parties. We always had a good time, we could be silly together. I’m going to miss that.

Joan Smith Dobrzynski
friend from Colorado

Some Cathy and Joan stories -

Now it is not uncommon for people to take their dogs with them when they go hiking in the mountains. BUT Cathy was the only person I have gone hiking and camping with that took her cat. And yes I have a picture if you think I have been sipping on the wine too much!!! She had a little leach and all.

Cathy, Pam and I went to see the Broncos - back when you could get tickets because they were so bad - and sat on chairs on the ground. That was the game when a fellow Purdue graduate (I think his name was Otis Armstrong) broke a Bronco record for yards gained or something. In any case, I did not graduate from Purdue but had to sing the fight song anyway because Pam and Cathy sure were! We did love our football games!

For a little while, Cathy stayed with me at my house. I think she was between apartments or something. Now we have heard about Cathy and her cat but she also had a dog, an afghan that looked a lot like her, tall and slim, and a parakeet. Well the bird got out of the cage and met with it's demise. I can't remember if the cat had anything to do with it of not but we did have a funeral and buried it in my garden. I think it was the first in a long line of pets that have become fertilizer

Now there is the story of the rented duplex in Sheridan and the painted walls and small claims court. As I remember the story was that the landlord said he would pay for the paint if she would do the painting and she could choose the color - it was blue I think. Anyway I had been the witness on move in day of the condition of the duplex. The landlord, of course, said he would not pay for the paint because of damage to the walls. So as penniless as we were then, Cathy decides to take him to court. I got to be the witness and by golly she won. We celebrated at last someone was able to stand on principle and won. That was Cathy, principled.

Well the memories and stories are starting to flood in so I had better stop.

Cathy was a very special person, full of energy and creativity, caring and sharing and we always were good for a laugh! I am glad she was apart of my life even if it was for a little while.

I am sorry I will not be able to make it to El Rancho as I have another commitment at lunch time on Saturday. I am so sorry for your loss. Enjoy the good memories you will be able to share tomorrow.

Ellen Martin Mize
Purdue, 1970

Cathy and I were college roommates at Purdue about 35 years ago. Needless to say, my memories of specific antics and adventures have faded. I know we were good friends and I felt Cathy's care and support many times. I know that Cathy has always been in my heart even when we have lost touch.

Cathy and I kept in touch irregularly over the past years....Christmas newsletters and such. We visited her once when she was in Colorado. We had lost touch recently with her marriage and move to England. This past Christmas, I received her address and email info from a mutual friend, Pam McCollam Hansen. I eagerly made use of the email address to contact Cathy and she responded.

With busy lives we corresponded just briefly a few times since the first of the year. We made plans to meet this summer as she intended to be in Indiana for her nephew's wedding. (I think.) I was so looking forward to seeing her again.

One particular piece from the web site touched me and I think it really catches Cathy's spirit."Cathy was an inspiration to all those around her. She brought happiness and cheer to everyone that she knew. She always believed that her guardian angel was looking after her. She was a guardian angel to many of her friends and family. She is greatly missed and will remain in our hearts forever." As I sat at the computer, writing an email to another friend to let her know about Cathy, the drawer to my filing cabinet sat open. I looked down and a piece of paper was sticking out of my folder marked "personal correspondence." When I opened the paper, it was a letter I had received from Cathy when she lived in Germany in 1993. How did it get there and why did it stick out at that time? Who knows?

I just know that somehow this made me feel that Cathy reached out and touched me again

Here's one of the earliest funny memories that I have of Cathy,
Tina Pederson, 2004.

I met Cathy when we were both in training to work as service representatives for Mountain Bell in 1970. After we had gotten established in our jobs at Mountain Bell, Cathy finally bought her first new car! We were all really excited and went for frequent drives on the weekends up in the mountains. One day in the spring, that's still wintertime in the Colorado mountains, we decided to go up to the Indian Peaks Wilderness area to see if the road was open to go to Nederland Lake. We always took food to eat when we went on our road adventures and this particular day Cathy had a yearning for Chili Con Queso. She made a huge crock pot with probably two pounds of Velveeta cheese and green chilies and brought an enormous bag of corn tortilla chips to eat it and she put it in the back of the new Gremlin crock pot and all, at it was still warm! We started up the road to Indian Peaks and almost slid off the road and slid into a snow bank instead....................and the gooey chili con queso went oozing all over the carpet in the back part of the hatchback of the new Gremlin. We were glad to be ok, so we got out and checked the car and it was ok, but we needed a push to get the car out of the snow. While we were waiting for someone to come along, Cathy decided that we should start eating the chili con queso before it ruined her new carpet.............so we ate the chili con queso right off the carpet of the car! We had a terrific time eating and I think there was wine involved..............until help came along to push us out of the snow bank. By that point, we were stuffed with cheese and wine and weren't in any hurry to go anywhere, but we would always remember "chili con queso a la carpet with chips"!

Here's another humorous memory of camping with Cathy.
Tina Pederson, 2004.

After Cathy got her Gremlin, we went camping up in the mountains frequently. On one trip we went up to the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. After setting up camp and cooking our food over the open fire, those were the good old days before it was illegal to make open fires, we sang all the girl scout songs we could remember and finally it was time to go to sleep. Luckily, we had a tent since neither one of us liked slithery surprises or other uninvited guests in the night. After we'd been asleep several hours, we were suddenly awakened by the thundering of hooves going around and over our tent! Yes, we were in the local deer traffic way in the woods! We we nervous but felt that surely the deer could see where we were and wouldn't hurt us. However, in the middle of all this action, Cathy had to go do some private business in the woods. I told her she shouldn't go out and to try and think pure thoughts until the thundering hooves was over. Poor thing, nervousness probably made it worse, but she did manage to wait until it got quiet and then I stood guard in case the herd came back...............I told her that we should always put a can in the tent from then on, so that she wouldn't have to go out to do her business in the middle of the night with the deer jumping over her head!

Here's a memory of traveling with Cathy to Matzetlan in Mexico in the 70's.
Tina Pederson, 2004.

Anyone who knows Cathy can appreciate the fact that she constantly worried about what to do with her curly hair and dreaded the uncontrollable nature of it in humid conditions, one of the positives to living in Colorado is little humidity. So, when we decided to go on vacation to Mexico, she decided that in order to prevail against her unruly hair she would buy a wig to take along for when her hair got completely out of control. We went to Fashion Bar in Denver to try on wigs and low and behold, she decided to go for a completely different look than her regular hair. She chose a wig with long, flowing locks that hung down to the middle of her back! It was a look........of one kind or another..........I thought it was a waste of money, but it seemed to give her confidence and she bought it for our trip to Mexico. As luck would have it, we went to Mexico just prior to a hurricane. That first night there was a festive party at our hotel and so Cathy and I dressed up and of course Cathy wore her new wig. While we were at the party, the winds really started blowing and it started pouring rain. The band had to stop playing because everything was blowing everywhere, including Cathy's wig which blew off her head! She retrieved it before it blew away into the ocean, but we ran to our hotel room and took refuge from the storm where were laughed about the wig having a life of its own at the party! She realized that it wasn't worth the embarrassment to have your hair blow off your head! We found out the next day that we were on the edge of a hurricane that swept through the tourist village we were staying in. So, the humid factor was really high and so was the water in the streets.............3 to 4 feet of water was all over the town, but our hotel was dry because we were on higher ground than the town even though we were on the beach. The water took about a week, the whole time we were there, to recede, but we made the most of this trip by wading through the town in all that water and even went shopping in the local market for all our tourist junk to take home with our frizzy hair and all.......you know how Cathy liked to shop! And by the way, Cathy never wore that wig again.......she decided it was bad luck because a hurricane had come and blown it off her head and that she could still have lots of fun with unruly, curly hair!

We invite you to share your thoughts and photos of Cathy. You can send them via e-mail and digital photos in jpg or the old fashion way, by letter and postal service. We promise to return all photos in the same condition received.