Catherine Frances Dwyer

Cathi, 62, of Denver, loving wife and mother, passed away September 17. She is survived by her husband Frank, sons Tim (Sharon) and Brian (Kelly); daughter Karen (Steve) Kwon; and grandchildren Miriah, Liam, Julia, Miles and Hayes. Memorial services Saturday, September 22, 2 p.m. at Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 1091 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver. Contributions may be made to Rocky Mountain Cancer Center, 1800 Williams St., Suite 200, Denver, CO 80218. Cathi Dwyer was an incredible wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She was loving, patient, funny, intelligent, selfless and loyal. She held strong opinions but didn't force them on others. She felt comfortable in her own skin. She was honest and full of grace. No matter what, she was always available for the people she loved. If you look at what she enjoyed most in life'""her family and close friends, teaching and traveling'""a common thread runs through it all, a love of learning. She was fascinated by current events, from what she read in newspapers to her grandkids' most recent interests and achievements. She asked questions of all of us in the family and listened, intently and without judging. She liked to share her point of view and hear yours. (And if, on occasion, she came on strong, you knew you deserved it). Cathi always welcomed the friends'""and future spouses'""her kids brought home. 'She always made me feel like I was part of the family,' says Karen's husband Steve Kwon. 'I wasn't with Karen too long and she had already made me a Christmas stocking.' While Frank did most the playing with their kids when they were little, Cathi 'played' with them as they grew older. 'Cathi really enjoyed high school,' Frank says. 'When the kids went to high school, she really loved that they were in high school.' Karen and her mom had long heart-to-hearts. And when classes let out for the day Brian and his mom usually played card games or Boggle. 'She didn't treat us like kids; she treated us like people,' he says. 'She figured you were an adult,' adds Tim, 'and she expected you to act like an adult.' While her kids were in school, Cathi often worked with Frank, keeping his books straight, answering phones and doing paralegal work. Then she went back to school herself. Her interest in politics and current events and half a lifetime of dinner conversations with father-in-law Vince, former editor of the Rocky Mountain News, sparked her interest in journalism. Once enrolled at Metro State she added a geography focus and.graduated summa cum laude in 1983. In the late 1980s, she and Betty Fox, a school friend who became one of her closest friends, co-wrote a romance novel, often working from coffee shops or Betty's Summit County condominium. 'They thought it would be fun, to write it, sell it' and, Frank adds, 'they got turned down.' Still, Cathi wrote another novel on her own about an undercover agent tracking a radical right-wing group that was planning a bombing. The publisher told her that scenario would never happen and turned her down. 'Not long after that was the Oklahoma city bombing,' Frank says. 'She was so mad.' Cathi received her masters in urban planning in 1992 then set her sights on teaching. 'She loved the interaction with students, learning from them and teaching them,' Karen says. Cathi taught at several local colleges and universities, the last 10 years at Metro where she was a professor of urban planning, geography and environmental science. She was also a certified planner and a member of the American Planning Association. When Cathi was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in April 2004, some doctors believed her time was short and colleagues assumed she would wind her career down. But teaching took on greater significance for Cathi, who worked through May 2007. To the people who asked her where she got her energy, she'd reply that the last thing she needed to do was sit around the house and think about what hurts. On her days off, she and Karen might go to lunch, she and Frank might take their grandkids to the zoo or she'd venture into some new home project. And as much as Cathi enjoyed her work and students, she always was thrilled for the winter break and Christmastime, when Tim and his family came home. She'd shop for presents and bake loads of Christmas cookies. And when school let out for summer, she and Frank often set out on a European vacation'""Italy, Ireland, Spain, England, France. Once they'd decide their next trip destination (with the proper balance of old castles for Cathi and tasty cuisine for Frank) Cathi would sink herself into maps and travel guides and the Internet plotting their routes and sightseeing stops. Most of all, Cathi enjoyed her traveling partner and best friend, Frank. The couple met as kids, their backyards separated by the alley between Clermont and Birch streets. Frank, four years Cathi's senior, was friends first with Cathi's older brother Pat Loughry. 'I would go to Mass with her and Pat,' he says. 'I would always joke around and say 'Ëœlets go out tonight.' She'd always say she had a date. One time, I teased her and said 'ËœI'm going to a party tonight, do you want to go?' She asked her mom and then said 'Ëœyes.'' And so it began. Cathi was 17. 'At the party, she burned a hole in her mother's blouse with a cigarette, but I had to take the blame for it,' Frank laughs. They always could make one another laugh, and anyone who spent time with the two of them witnessed the respect they showed each other, even when they disagreed. Cathi often made it known Frank was her best guy. When he'd walk out of a room, she'd say to one of her kids, as if they didn't know it already, 'your dad is a really great guy.' We miss Cathi more than words can express. She will live on in our hearts always.