Cathy J. Maxson
Piney Flats, Tennesee formerly from Gladwin, Michigan
Cathy Joann Maxson passed away during the night of August 13, 2023 at Midland Hospital. The cause of death was a heart attack. Cathy was born on July 7, 1953 in Yuma, AZ to Herbert and Ruth Schmidt. Her family moved around to follow Herbert’s military deployments, with periods in Germany, Indiana, and other places. After retirement the family settled in Michigan. Throughout their lives Cathy remained close to her parents. In the 1980s and 1990s she and her mother co-ran Jeans & Things and then Special Lady, both clothing stores in Gladwin. Their lives outside the stores intermingled until Herbert’s death in 1992 and Ruth’s passing in 1999.
In 1971 Cathy married the love of her life, Ronald A. Maxson, just a few months after graduating from high school. The couple settled in the Gladwin area and began a family, with their first son Ronald Paul born in 1975 and a second son, Brian, born in 1978. Soon after Cathy began her first job, a route for the Gladwin Post Office to deliver mail to many areas in and around the Wooden Shoe Village. She retired from that job in 2016. In retirement, she and Ron split their time between summers in their life-long home in the Gladwin area and other times of the year in eastern Tennessee, to be near their son Brian and his family. Cathy and Ron celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2021.
Cathy was kind, generous, and well-liked by family, friends, and acquaintances. She had an extraordinary memory and raw intelligence that she combined with humility and affability. She loved to travel to places with her husband Ron and their life-long close companions David and Linda Maxson, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law. On such trips she served as primary investigator, navigator, negotiator, and source of inspiration and laughter. She loved to talk with her family and friends. She enjoyed long conversations over the phone with her son Brian as he walked across unfamiliar cities in multiple states and in Europe. On such occasions she offered encouragement, her always patient and loving ear, and sometimes directions and advice from an ocean away. Her granddaughter Alex was one of the delights of her later life. Cathy enjoyed shopping, playing card games and trivia, and winning at the casino. She had a gentle and sincere spirit that was greatly impacted by the passing of her mother and the premature death of her eldest son Ron in 2013.
Cathy was loved and is missed by many. She is predeceased by her parents, her elder brother Charles, and her son Ronald. She is survived by her husband Ron, her brother Michael, her nephew Mike and niece Debbie, her son and daughter-in-law Brian and Jennifer, and her granddaughter Alexandria.
Funeral services will be at 11:00 am on Saturday, August 19, 2023, at the Lee-Ramsay Funeral Home in Gladwin, Michigan with Pastor Tony Reynolds presiding, followed with burial at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Gladwin, Michigan. The family will greet friends and family on Friday, August 18, 2023, from 4:00-8:00 pm and on Saturday, August 19, 2023, from 10:00 am until the time of service at the Lee-Ramsay Funeral Home in Gladwin, Michigan.
