Catherine Cage Bruns

1933 - 2019

Catherine Cage Bruns
1933-2019
Catherine Cage Bruns died peacefully at her home in Houston on Friday, the 3rd of May 2019. Born in Houston on the 2nd of June 1933, she was a Houstonian to the core, living her entire life within five miles of her first home, except when attending college in Virginia. She was smart, tough, funny, beautiful, and vibrant. She was by turns pragmatic, steely, and unsentimental, suffering no fools lightly. And yet, she was totally thoughtful – even sentimental – in remembering every day of significance for those she loved, creating personal mementos and poems for special events.
She graduated from Kinkaid Preparatory School and received her BA degree from Sweet Briar College in 1955. After college, she took her extraordinary aptitude for numbers and went to work at Underwood Neuhaus as one of the first female stockbrokers in the entire state of Texas. In 1959, she carried her only child-to-be, Michael Masterson Mooney, to work through her eighth month of pregnancy. She was married briefly to James D. Mooney, but the marriage ended soon after the birth of their child. Realizing a special need for women in banking, in the early 1970s she founded the women's banking department at River Oaks Bank. She was married for over a decade to Henry Dickson (Harry) Bruns II, who with his entire extended family embraced Michael fully as a son, and Michael took his surname. She in turn cared for and loved his children Peter and Peyton. In the 1980,'s she returned to the brokerage business as both a broker and analyst, and continued those roles in various capacities into the early 2000's.
She loved traveling to Mexico, particularly Cuernavaca, as financial advisor to beloved friend Elizabeth Smith; and with friends Carolyn and Bruce Wallace pursuing a mutual love of Mexican folk art. She was a member of The Junior League of Houston and The Garden Club of Houston. She was a tireless volunteer and a strong advocate for volunteerism, earning her a Texas Governor's Award for Volunteerism in 1979. Among her cherished organizations were the Junior League, Garden Club of Houston, Sweet Briar College, Cenikor, Glenwood Cemetery, and Historic Houston, serving on the board of many of them. She supported the campaign to have Rufus Cage Elementary School, built on land donated by her great-grandfather Rufus Cage, designated a historic site in 2012. She was also passionate about and for Houston historic preservation, receiving a Good Brick Award from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance in 1998 along with good friend, photographer Michael McKann, for their book, "The Angels of Glenwood Cemetery."
She is pre-deceased by her parents, Marion Jacob Cage and Elliott Cage, Jr.; her sister, Chaille Cage Kelly; her aunts and uncle, Mary Catherine Hutcheson, Chaille Cage Thompson, George DeWitt Jacob, Jr. and their spouses; and her niece, Marion Kelly Black-Martin. She is survived by her son, Michael Masterson Bruns, and his longtime partner, Gabriela Sweet; nephew, Elliott Cage Kelly; great-niece, Kelly (Amy) Brian Black; great-nephew, Travis Marion Black; brother-in-law, Lawrence Kelly; stepdaughter, Peyton Bruns, and her husband, Randall Bolten; stepson, Henry (Peter) Dickson Bruns II, his wife, Katherine Rice, and their son, George Bruns; and godson, William Huber. She is also survived by many cousins, including Honora Desmond Jacob, Almeria Thompson Cottingham, Helen Thompson Kerr, Fredrica Thompson, Donna Drennen, Mariquita Masterson, Fylma Thompson, Neill T. Masterson III, Clare Masterson Lee, David J. Devine and Isla Reckling.
Her family would like to acknowledge the extraordinary care and friendship she received from her primary and utterly devoted caregiver, Maria (Angie) Rowe, who made the last years of her life as good as they could be. We would also like to thank her doctor, Dr. Albert H. Braden III; Angie's son, Kelly Rowe; caregiver, Carmen Padilla, and the many other people who helped and cared for her during later years of her life.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from eleven o'clock in the morning until noon on Thursday, the 9th of May, in the parlor and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
The interment will follow the visitation, via an escorted cortege, at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.
Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception at a venue to be announced during the services.
Please visit Ms. Brun's online memorial tribute at geohlewis.com where words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with her family.