Katharine Ann McCann

1938 - 2009

On Thursday, January 15, 2009, at Carilion Memorial Hospital, Roanoke, Va., surrounded by family, the Lord took my Katie home to Heaven. Katie was born on March 18, 1938, in Hamilton, N.Y., the first of six children of Harold Hunt Evans (deceased) and Doris Church Evans. Following graduation from Hamilton High School in 1956 she married Robert M. "Bob" Waldbillig of Peekskill, N.Y., and began her new life as the wife of an Air Force pilot and a mother. They had a wonderful marriage and three children: Linda M. Stewart (Henry) and their four children of Atascadero, Calif., Robert S. Waldbillig of Linden, N.C., and Michael W. Waldbillig (Michelle) and their four children of Tucson, Aria. Air Force assignments took the family to several locations in the United States as well as England and Germany and Katie made sure there was a loving family home regardless of the location.
Lt. Col. Bob Waldbillig died in an aircraft accident in Germany in September, 1975. In 1976 Katie and her children returned to Clovis, N.M., near Cannon Air Force Base, the location of an earlier assignment.
On August 18, 1979, Katie and Col. Robert I. "Bob" McCann, of Dedham, Mass., were married in the chapel at Cannon AFB. As a result of their marriage Katie gained four stepdaughters: Kelly M. Maffeo (Robert) and their three children, of Foxborough, Mass., Penny E. Pennington (John) and her two children, of Warrenton, Va., Maureen McCann and her two children, of Walpole, Mass., and Stephanie Elia (Dennis), of Quincy, Mass. Katie loved them all as her own and that love was reciprocated.
For the next almost 30 years Bob and Katie lived and enjoyed life to its fullest. Katie knew all too well the hardships and demands of military life and worked hard to help other military families particularly those who lost a spouse on active duty. After retirement from the Air Force they traveled extensively and built their own aircraft which they flew all over the United States. She recalled prior to her death, "I have really lived life."
In addition to her mother, husband, children, and stepchildren Katie is survived by her sisters, Jacqueline Jones, of Hamilton, N.Y., Susan Benedict, of Erieville, N.Y., Judy Moody (Maurice), of Harpswell, Maine, Patricia Williams, of Albuquerque, N.M.; brother, L. Vincent Evans (Lynn) of Syracuse, N.Y.; 15 grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and 16 nieces and nephews.
"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying: "Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all." Proverbs 31: 25-29
Katie's memorial service will be at the Fort Myer Post Chapel with internment to follow in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.