Catherine Harding Davis

Catherine Harding Davis was born on October 26, 1944 to Aleen Bird Harding and Charles Laban Harding in New York City and passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, surrounded by love and family following a brutal and brave battle with pancreatic cancer. Cathy was a magnificent wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. She spent "56 years of magic" married to William C. Davis, the great and true love of her life. She absolutely relished her role as the extraordinary mother of her daughter, Elizabeth, and her son, William, and as ultra-loving "Grammy" of Maddie, Hannah, Gracie, and Cameron. Cathy was a true friend, earning her both lifelong and new friends from a broad geographic, age, faith, and socioeconomic spectrum.

Her life was characterized by service, faith and love, which she shared liberally in small and simple ways without fanfare throughout her entire life. She lived her faith by developing an

extraordinary ability to see the needs of others and ministering to them by feeding, visiting, and welcoming the sick, weary, lonely and sad, among many others, into her home. This practice was at the core of her 78 years as a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She truly lived the principle put forth by St. Francis, "Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words." For Cathy, words were rarely necessary-rather, her goodness spread organically as she was constantly engaged in a good cause. She took on a multitude of roles at her church, leading the women and the children across the region as well as within her local congregation; but she didn't stop there. She fully engaged in her community, and when Cathy committed, she committed. She was a woman with a plan, always busy with an "energizer-bunny-vibe" of sorts, with places to go, things to do, and people to see.

After 10 years at home raising her kids, she felt she had "more love to give", so she spent the next 25 years as an exceptional kindergarten teacher. While she never sought formal or public recognition for anything she did, she received the Teacher of the Year Award from the State of Connecticut in 2005. Cathy left this world rich in family, friends, and community...the very things in which she invested her life, her time, her talents, her boundless energy and, most importantly, her love. Those who had the privilege to count themselves among the multitude of recipients of her goodness will praise her name for generations to come and will proudly carry her remarkable legacy forward.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Fitzwilliam Historical Society c/o Dick Goettle, Treasurer, P.O. Box 87 Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire 03447 or to the Fitzwilliam Garden Club c/o Leisa Perrota, Treasurer, 783 Old Homestead Highway Swanzey, NH 03446.

All services are under the care of Cheshire Family Funeral Chapel and Crematories, 44 Maple Ave Keene, NH. 03431. www.chesirefamilyfh.com.