Catherine

The brightest light in our firmament was extinguished Monday morning and the world was left in the dark. Our lovely, precious loving daughter, Catherine Elizabeth Cremin, went to meet her Lord, leaving behind grieving and loving family and countless friends.

Catherine was born on February 22, 1976 in Tulsa, and blessed us by choosing us as her family. From the first time we laid eyes on her, in March, she was a joy to our lives. For the first time Margie and I felt we had a genuine purpose in our lives: her.

She loved horses and gardening. She graduated from Bishop Kelley and attended St. Gregory, OSU and, later, TU. But it was her love of plants that led her to study horticulture, receiving an associate's degree at TCC. Catherine loved plants (she made me build her a greenhouse), but she also loved every animal she ever saw. Her horse, Ebony, was her pride and her greenhouse, her joy. She never tired of either.

She and her brother, Brian O'Day, were inseparable, going everywhere together, and bringing hordes of their Bishop Kelley friends to our home every weekend. Those were the best of times, and we hoped they would never end. We truly were fulfilled by her life and her countless friends. The joy they shared brought matchless and eternal joy to our lives.

She loved to ride with us across the Osage hills, spotting the wildlife and picking every wild flower in her wake. Nary a week went by that she hadn't made some bouquet and put it on the dining room table.  Next in her favorites, was cooking with Pops. We even appeared in Tulsa Kids on the cover, cooking together. What wonderful closeness the cooking brought to us.

Catherine was a remarkable mother, giving birth to six gorgeous and unbelievable children: Asia Brianna, Atticus Patrick, Solomon Brian, Gideon Jesse, Malachi Elijah and David Elliot. She did not want for incredible names and incredible kids. She was supremely proud, which is evidenced by the thousands and thousands of pictures and albums featuring those terrific kids.

Her friendships were intense, exuberant and endless. Once Catherine let you in, you never got out of her constantly widening circle. And those friends remained with her until the tragic end. Four special friends, Amy Maples, Kelly Porter, Laura Casillas and Mandy Woolman, were with her round the clock in the final days. Their love for her was intense and filled her room and her house to overflowing. We can never thank them enough.

She was a cousin to a crowd, and mixed those cousins in with her friend circle so strongly, that they too became lifetime friends of her friends. She never missed a chance to throw a party. As one of them said, if they mentioned "let's go to…"she would say "I will make some ribs, some beans, slaw…" even though they were only going to be gone for an hour or two. Every moment was meant for a celebration.

She had the added joy of having her cousin Carolyn Cremin live with us for their last two years of high school, because Carolyn's dad had to move to Houston, and Carolyn wanted to finish at Kelley. They became sisters in every way.

Catherine was not without challenges in her life and fought valiantly to overcome them, to no avail. She made repeated efforts and had long periods without her demon, but it inevitably returned and ultimately cut short her sweet and loving life.

She beautifully cared for her Mother for several years, and the two became even closer than before. Her devotion was amazing and she even exhibited patience at times. Patience was not her specialty. But she made that rare exception for her mom, calling me daily to report in on how they were doing.

Catherine was truly a woman of faith and a lover of the rosary. Her last days she clutched it in her beautiful hand and seemed to be mentally repeating it over and over. One night many years ago, when questioning faith in her usual aggressive style, there was a knock at our front door. Catherine answered. A woman, clad in a long flowing white tunic, and sporting a fedora and a crucifix around her neck, identified herself as Holy Mary. (Yes.) She advised us, "I have just come from the Jail. Make straight the way of the Lord." She asked for a glass of water, drank it, then walked away, disappearing in the night. It was eerie, surreal. And then Catherine, looking up, as if talking to God, said: "It was just a dinner table discussion." It became a religion class story that lived on for quite a while.

Catherine loved to take trips with the family, especially to Kansas City and her beloved Byard cousins. She got to sit in the press box with Uncle Kevin O'Day, part of the Seattle Mariners' broadcast team. She got to sit on the announcers' laps. One time we went to Stroud's for a chicken dinner feast after a game. Dave Niehaus, the Hall of Fame Seattle broadcaster, had it set up for George Brett to meet Kevin's niece there: the remarkable Catherine. When George entered, he went directly to his table where food was already awaiting him. I encouraged my eight year old to go and say hello. She ran up and tugged on his sleeve. Brett says, "Not now, sweetheart, let me eat my dinner first." She walked away unbearably deflated and sat on Pops' lap. Suddenly Niehaus saw George and asked if he had met Cat. George responded no. Then Dave pointed to Catherine, and George, upset by his mistake, turned and opened his arms and pleaded, "Catherine, please come sit on my lap and give me a kiss." She with a sardonic smile on her face, looked up and replied: "Not now, let me eat my dinner first." It brought down the house.

When she brought her date—later husband—to meet the family, we couldn't tell if he was capable of speech. He stood frozen, looking at us and our friends and saying nothing. Later on, another time, Mark asked me if I thought that he was an idiot. He explained, "Mr. Cremin, we got back out to the car, after that first meeting, Catherine asked me what was wrong with me. I told her she hadn't told me her parents were white." She responded: "Oh, I just never thought about that." What a tribute to right thinking.

Her brother told her that he could no longer go to night spots with her, because every time he asked a girl to dance, they retorted that he should stay with his date. When he pleaded that he was with her sister, they never believed him. Brian never even thought that they might not look like siblings. They were the best at not tripping over color.

Catherine will be forever remembered by her friends and her loving family as a caring, intelligent, charming, witty star of all of our lives. We let her go stubbornly, and Asia sat with her and held her as the end came. All of our lives are left with a gaping hole that is unfillable. To never get that daily bright voiced call again will make Pops' days fall way short for the rest of his time.

But Catherine will be able to join her loving Brother Brian O'Day and her "sister" Carolyn in heaven. She received her last rites form our great friend and priest, Father Charles Swett, last Saturday. "It's straight to Heaven," he said.

Catherine was predeceased by her loving brother, Brian O'Day Cremin, and her special cousin, Carolyn Cremin, and her grandparents, Margaret and Jim Cremin and Hazel White. She is survived by her parents, Margie and Pat Cremin, her six children, Uncles, Aunts, a niece, family too numerous to mention, and a world of her closest friends.

Your Pops loves you Catherine, always has and always will. You were the very best. Please pray for all of us.

Goodbye my wonderful girl. I will forever miss you.


A Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be Friday, June 22, 2018, 3:00 p.m., at Holy Family Cathedral, in Tulsa.

FITZGERALD IVY CHAPEL, 918-585-1151