Dorothy Cato

Dorothy May Cato passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at the age of 100 years and five months.   Survivors include a daughter Diana Ortner and husband Steve; a son Dennis Cato and wife Frances, two grandchildren, David Cato and wife Suzanne and Stephen Cato and wife Debbie; three great grandchildren, Shelby Davey and husband Luke, Johnna Cato, Drew Cato and wife Kayla; seven great-great-grandchildren, Denver and Xander Davey, Dayton, Natalie, Evan and Blake Cato; one sister Ruby Padley and many nieces and nephews.   Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband Delbert, her parents, Daniel & Lee Emma Steward; three sisters, Tressa Lee Hull, Lillie Bodle and Hazel Dietrich; three brothers, Orval, Daniel and Carl Steward.   Dorothy was born February 12, 1920 in Sheldon, MO.  She graduated from Nevada High School in 1938 and moved to Kansas City, MO to live with her sister Hazel and worked at Woolworth’s Dime Store until she found a job as a chauffeur for a real estate lady and drove a 1939 Packard in Kansas City.  In this same year, she met and married Delbert Cato and they were married for 61 years until his death in 2000.   During World War II, she worked at Pratt & Whitney airplane factory, in Kansas City.  In the early 1950’s the family moved to Iantha and later to Lamar and built a house.  In 1964, when O’Sullivan’s furniture factory came to town, she was the second employee to be hired and worked in the caster department, she worked there until she retired in 1984.  She remained in Lamar in the house they built for the rest of her life.     She always had a smile for everyone.   On February 13, 2019, she was interviewed by KSN news.  She said it took her 99 years to get on TV and the key to living so long is really quite simple, “I say my prayers and I do right and I love my family”   A private family service is scheduled where Dorothy will be laid to rest next to her husband in Memory Gardens Cemetery.   Contributions are suggested and made payable to the Barton County Sr. Center in care of Daniel Funeral Home.