Remembering a beloved resident with deep connections
By: Andy Marshall
Meet Your Neighbours
Cathy Thompson liked to retell with contrarian glee the story of her birth in Cochrane in 1912, describing herself as the “spoiler” for her family and the doctor’s family by arriving just as they were all set to enjoy Thanksgiving Day festivities.
Andy Marshall
“My birth was not a blessed event for all,” she would say.
Her parents, Katy and Robert McNamee, already with seven sons and three daughters, were preparing celebrations with other relatives. They ended up with canned salmon for dinner. The doctor’s family was forced to delay an outing to Calgary.
“I was never allowed to forget this,” she would chuckle.
Cathy remained in character for most of her life. People who met her would remember her independent and unorthodox ways, flavored with good doses of acerbic wit. Suffering from osteoporosis and bent over to a lot less than five feet tall in later life, Cathy, in boxing parlance, punched well above her weight.
Almost until she died peacefully eight weeks ago in Calgary’s Mount Royal Care Centre, just before what would have been her 97th birthday, she took a keen interest in events and people around her, rarely relenting on her talent for expressing opinions sharply.
“She was candid . . . she was feisty,” said son Dan with wry understatement. He now lives in the Cochrane-brick family house built by Cathy’s parents in 1911.
Cathy’s family roots in Cochrane go at least as far back as 1887. Her father was a section foreman for the CPR, and in 1891 her parents were the first couple to be married here.
McNamee Park, west of the outside rink in east Cochrane, and once the site of the family’s vegetable garden, serves as a memorial to the McNamee’s.
Cathy sold the land to the Town for $200, conditional on it never being used for anything but public recreation. She later prevailed in a battle to preserve it from housing.
Some view Cathy’s memory of Cochrane’s history, and of the cast of fascinating and not-always-exemplary characters who lived here, as legendary. Passing a photograph of a well-known and long-time Cochrane citizen after a community event a few years ago, she uttered far from softly: “That man never worked a full day in his life.”
The organist at St. Andrew’s United Church for 19 years, Cathy is also remembered for having a child from the then-married church minister, Len Thompson, in 1956. They married in 1958 and spent 23 years together, in other parts of Alberta and Ontario, and then in the McNamee house before he died from cancer in 1981, just short of 80.
Cathy spoke fondly of her early, unfettered years in Cochrane, “climbing the unfenced hills, running over the flats picking saskatoons, chokecherries and rare patches of wild strawberries.”
When older brother Don started school, she pleaded to go too. She did well there. A report card from her diploma year shows marks of 88 in English Composition, 89 in Algebra 1, and 100 per cent in Algebra 2.
Much of family life centred on St. Andrew’s United and on music. The family’s original Baldwin piano is still in the house today. Cathy, Don and their sister, Vivien, sang in the church choir.
She was good at tennis, playing at tournaments throughout the region, and belonged to Canadian Girls In Training (CGIT).
Remaining in the family home, Cathy worked as assistant post mistress and then as secretary to the telephone company.
Later, she looked after her ailing mother following her father’s death. Dan isn’t sure what formal training she had before becoming church organist.
Meeting Len Thompson when she was 40 certainly changed her life. The circumstances of the relationship meant they left Cochrane and lived in other communities around Calgary.
For a while, their home was a travel trailer. To survive, Len took jobs like selling encyclopedias and delivering eggs in Calgary. He preached at a non-denominational church in Kathyrn before accepting a position at a small Unitarian Universalist church in Olinda, southern Ontario, where they lived 13 years. Cathy played the organ in that church too
When Gail Stanfield, a relative who had known Cathy from an early age, visited Olinda, she found Cathy quite philosophical and accepting of her far-from-ideal circumstances. “I was very impressed with her fundamental generosity,” said Gail.
She also enjoyed hearing Cathy’s views on life. “She really believed in the unity of mankind.”
When Len finally retired, the family returned to the Cochrane family home, that had in the meantime been rented out. After Len’s death, Cathy remained in the house, serving as an active member of St. Andrew’s, Amnesty International, the Cochrane Nuclear Disarmament Group, and later the Cochrane Settlement Community Association. It was Cathy’s reminder to the community association that East Cochrane was the original settlement area that prompted members to adopt the settlement name.
Onset of arthritis and osteoporosis prevented her from playing her beloved music and limited her activities. But, as she had done most of her life, she read avidly, building up piles of newspapers and other publications so plentiful they almost took over the house.
She scrawled copious notes on items she had read, some of them critical of local and provincial personalities, others quite humorous.
Responding to a question in the Town’s 2005 survey about development, she wrote “the destruction is heartbreaking.” To another question about whether respondents thought they would be living in Cochrane in five years she noted: “What a cruel question to ask a 93-year-old.”
Even though virtually wheelchair-bound, she still liked to attend community events and, although her hearing was declining, she continued to fearlessly offer her viewpoints. After a fall almost three years ago, she was admitted to long-term care. A private cremation was held after her death.
She was indeed unique and special. As son Dan added: “She walked her own path, no doubt about it.”
Andy Marshall, a veteran journalist living in Cochrane, profiles neighbours in our community.
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I just want to say that I enjoyed reading this wonderful story and history. I also was born and raised in Cochrane and do enjoy hearing information about our history and old times. Thank you.