Cathie and Me
Catherine Margaret Carrier Cory
04 August 1958 – 19 November 2000This was memorial was written by Richard Cory
I met Cathie in beautiful downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho. I was temporarily stashed away at the Naval Administrative Unit while I awaited my orders for my next duty station. I was an Ensign in the U.S. Navy assigned as the Assistant Housing Referral Officer. Cathie worked in the Personnel Support Detachment across the hall. My job was to help military personnel in the area find a suitable place to live. Cathie came in one day as a client and it was love at first sight. OK... I fell head over heals in love, she required a little convincing. I was rather shy at the time and a bit concerned about the fact that our relationship was strictly forbidden as I was an officer and she was an enlisted person and fraternization between officers and enlisted is strictly forbidden. I asked a military lawyer about this once, in typical military style he told me it was OK for me to marry an enlisted person just so long as I didn't date her. After that first day we met she came back in the office several times. One day on a whim, I had flowers sent to her at the office with the card simply signed Scrooge as Christmas was rapidly approaching. I saw her a few days later and she told me someone had sent her flowers but she didn't know who. I simply answered, "Bah! Humbug!" and then she knew.
Our first date took place on New Years Eve – 1983. Cathie had given up on waiting for me to ask her out so she asked me out. 2 weeks later to the day, I asked her to marry me and she said yes! She told me later that she said yes even though she was clearly not sure this was the right thing to do. She figured she could always change her mind if things went bad. She was amazed when we went looking for an engagement ring and several of the jewelers in town already knew me and which diamonds and rings I had been looking at. When I finally got the ring I went to her house, and there, down on one knee, I asked her once again,"Will you marry me?" as I slipped the ring on her finger. Now this may not be the romantic scene that it sounds like because there was a reason I was down on my knees... I was in her bathroom fixing her toilet!
I soon got transferred to the east coast and then off on a Mediterranean Sea cruise. During the year or so we were apart we wrote letters and talked on the phone, but I only saw her a couple of times before I left for sea duty. By the time I returned from sea Cathie was out of the Navy. She came to meet me in Norfolk, Virginia and I took leave to go get married. We went to Centerville, Michigan where we were married in a small country Catholic church. After the wedding we left for a honey moon in the Pocono Mountains.
Over the years that followed Cathie and I had our share of ups and downs. Like any married couple we had arguments about things like money, the arrangement of furniture... all the usual stereotypical arguments that married couples have, but somehow we always managed to work it out.
Parenthood
Just 10 months after our honey moon, my son Alex was born. It was a joyous occasion and at the same time very stressful. There were complications in child birth and Cathie ended up getting a rather massive blood transfusion and ultimately ended up in a coma. Her recovery was lengthy and I decided then that I would get out of the Navy. I certainly would not want to have to go to sea and leave my family behind when Cathie or Alex was sick. So, in September of 1986 I left the Navy and went to work for Lafarge Calcium Aluminates in Chesapeake, Virginia where I have been employed ever since.
Living with AIDS
About 2 years after Alex was born Cathie went to donate blood at the Red Cross. A couple of weeks later the Red Cross called and asked Cathie to some into their office in Norfolk because there was some abnormality in her blood tests. When she went in to talk with them she was told that she had tested positive for HIV. During Alex's infancy Cathie had briefly breast fed him so Alex and I were both tested for HIV. The results that came back indicated that Alex was also HIV+. Since that time we have become local celebrities in support of AIDS awareness appearing on TV, radio, and in the newspaper as well as the web. The links below will take you to our AIDS related web pages.
Cathie's Death
In 1998, after beginning antiretroviral therapy to combat AIDS, Cathie was hospitalized as the result of hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) which was a rare but known side effect of AZT. While there in the hospital a biopsy of her liver confirmed the diagnosis of hepatic steatosis but also showed another condition known as bridging necrosis. Further investigation revealed that Cathie, in addition to being HIV+ was also infected with the hepatitis-C virus which most likely caused the necrosis. A little less than 2 years later, Cathie died as the result of complications related to hepatitis-C infection.
A celebration of Cathie's life was held on November 24th, 2000 at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Chesapeake, Virginia. The service was truly a celebration of her life rather than a mourning of her passing. The picture below was used on the cover of the bulletin for the memorial service along with her obituary as it appeared in the news paper.
Obituary for Catherine Margaret CoryOn November 19, 2000 at 8:45 PM, Catherine Margaret Cory of Chesapeake, VA passed away at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital at the age of 42 as the result of complications of Hepatitis-C infection. Cathie leaves behind her husband, Richard, of 15 years and her son Alex, 14.
Catherine was born and raised in Michigan. As a young adult she joined the Navy to see the world and served in both the Philippines and Idaho Falls, ID where she met her husband, Richard. Slightly less than a year after their marriage she gave birth to their only child, Alexander Cory.
Cathie was a person who loved life and loved people. Even in her darkest hours she expressed concern for those around her. She loved arts and crafts and put her talents to work teaching Sunday school, vacation Bible school, and volunteering for cub scouts and the PTA. A few years ago she became a Creative Memories Consultant helping people preserve their precious memories through scrap booking and photo preservation.
Cathie's faith was very important to her and she was blessed to have not one, but two loving families of faith in Courthouse Community United Methodist Church in Va. Beach and St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Chesapeake.
Cathie's philosophy of life was simple. Each day when we awake we make a choice. We can choose for it to be a good day or a bad day. Cathie always chose for it to be a good day. Her smile and spirit lives on in everyone who's life she touched.
A celebration of Cathie's life was conducted at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Chesapeake Va. on Providence Road at 2:00 PM Friday, November 24, 2000.
