Please join me in honoring the spirit and life of my loving mother. … Catherine A. Pierce, Community Activist, Beloved Mother and Grandmother, Sister, Mentor and Friend
~~ Rosa Loeb, Cathy’s Daughter
We celebrate the life of Cathy Pierce, one of the early Emerging Generation youth, daughter of Joe Pierce, sister to Gregg and Mark. When we were assigned to the Washington, D.C. House, I did some occasional work for Bishop Jim at the Methodist offices. Cathy was working in a social justice agency of the UMC at that time. I’m sorry to learn of her death. She always seemed wise beyond her years.
~~ Lynda Cock
I may be the only one of this group who knew Catherine before I’d heard of the Order. I first met her in Billings, Montana, at Rocky Mountain College. I was a senior, she a freshman. We lived in a four-room wing of the Women’s Residence Hall. Two other women in that wing were also named Pierce. They were cousins and really hilarious. Another woman in that wing was doing her student teaching and also newly engaged. One night, the night she got an engagement ring, as I recall, all of the other women in that wing removed all her furniture from her room and stuffed it into the shower. We spread her covers and other bedding on the floor where her bed should have been. We were all disappointed when this poor woman came in, looked at her bedding, and crawled in as if the bed were still there. But Cathy, as we called her then, and the rest of us had a good laugh.
The other part of that Rocky experience for Catherine involved my now-husband Doug, who was also a freshman then. I’m pretty sure Cathy went to Rocky to get away from anyone who knew the Order or the Ecumenical Institute. Doug says she looked at him with horror the first time she saw him. He was wearing a black beret with a wedge blade. “They’re everywhere!” her face seemed to say.
The next time I saw her was when Doug and I joined the Order. I walked into the Westside kitchen and there she was. It was one of those wrong context things. I knew I knew her, but was completely flummoxed. She laughed as she told me who she was. Then it made sense. Journey on, Cathy.
~~ Pat Druckenmiller
I have been a ‘friend’ of Catherine’s through Facebook, seeing her postings of her family and social engagement in the past few years. Her daughter Rosa writes, “Catherine had the most incredible mind, body, and soul.” Colleagues on the march write multiple postings including, “Activist for peace and justice everywhere …. One of Jacksonville’s activist superstars, who had nothing but love and kindness for all she met … We are better for knowing you and for the time you spent fighting for justice to make our world a better place for all.”
