Catherine was born on Wednesday, March 26, 1952 at the Newman Memorial hospital in Emporia, KS. Margaret started having slight labor pains early in the day so she went to her doctor. He had them check into the hospital and all they did was wait while little happened. Gene went squaredancing there in Emporia and when he returned Cathy had been born. I'm not sure how he lived that one down. Margaret said she was glad to have the peace and quiet! ha Catherine was born around 10 PM. She weighted 7 lbs, 11 oz, and had reddish hair. Catherine's name came from her great aunt Catherine McCormick. The middle name Elise came from a Elise Fatino who was a witness at Gene and Margaret's wedding at Camp Plauche in New Orleans.

Gene, Margaret, Dale, and Cathy lived on the Jones Ranch SW of Olpe, KS, until Cathy was in first grade. They rented a ranch house and 3000 acres. She attended the Shaw Creek one-room school for her first grade, about 3-4 mi east of the ranch. She was in a Christmas play at the school actually before she was in school (would have been her Kindergarten year ... but in that era there was no Kindergarten). She sang "Away in the Manger" and her doll was used as the baby Jesus. Unfortunately, a mouse chewed its lips off because she had put lipstick on it. This was pretty traumatic!

They moved to Morton place in Elk Falls in February 1960 when Cathy was 7 years old. They lived there for 3 years. Then they moved to Ray Nicholson place northwest of Moline in March 1963 when she was in 4th grade. Then they moved to the Kennett place in March 1966 and lived there for 3 more years. They moved to and purchased their current residence in March 1969, known as the John Schul place, 400 acres, which became the Cainlane. Their property is 3 miles W, 1.5 N, and 1/4 W of Moline, KS.

Cathy was always playing with her cats ... dressing them up ... and playing with her dolls. She rode horses with her dad and Dale. She would ride off with Dale into the pasture and take their lunches, prospecting for fool's gold.

Cathy graduated from Moline High School in 1970, located that year in Grenola, KS, because the facility in Moline burned the summer of 1969. Cathy and Mark met in study hall at Moline High School during Cathy’s Junior year and Mark’s senior year. Cathy was originally sitting at a table with Mark’s brother Mack and his friend Wayne Lampson. Like typical boys they liked to tease and bug the girls and they were driving Cathy crazy talking about skinning game and other “gross stuff”. ha So the Study Hall sponsor, Miss Olsen, allowed Cathy to move to my table. Even though Moline was a very small town, and they knew of each other, Mark and Catherine had never paid any attention to each other. Their first date was in early April 1969 and they married on June 3, 1972.

Cathy attended Independence Community JuCo and earned an AA degree in Early Childhood Education. In 1982 Cathy went back to college at Northern Oklahoma College and received an AA in Music. She went on to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and earned her B.M.E. She taught at Blackwell Grade School in 1987-88. The next year she went back to OSU for her MS in Education. In 1998 she started work on her second Masters Degree, a Master of Music in choral conducting, which was finished in May 2000.