Cathy was born in Olean, NY on July 13, 1936 and made her journey home to heaven on October 11, 2015 at 6:02 a.m.
Married to John B. Gooch on September 3, 1955 and recently celebrated their 60th anniversary.
She greeted every morning with prayer and daily devotional. She had read through her Bible so many times that there were no passages without underlines, brackets, or comments.
Cathy welcomed everyone into her home and always believed the best about the. Her alto voice graced the church choir for years and her loving, tender heart would have her crying at the drop of a hat. But don’t be fooled, when playing Farkle, Mexican Train, or any game for that matter, watch out…all bets were off. She won sweetly, but she won most of the time.
In her younger days, she was very athletic. In fact, she was the very first teammate chosen for touch football by the neighborhood kids and if she had met the age requirements, would have taken every trophy in the local Punt, Pass, and Kick competition. She gracefully swam, water skied, roller skated, bicycled and always wanted to learn to tap dance. From time to time, you would see her riding on the interstate on the back of their Honda GoldWing.
Later in life, she thoroughly enjoyed camping and traveled all over the country visiting national parks from coast to coast. Her camping buddies rapidly became her extended family and dearly missed them as their traveling days came to a close.
Cathy loved her family more than her own life, prayed for each of them every day and will continue on for eternity.
P.S. She hid things better than squirrels hid nuts.
She was a member of Harmony Baptist Church for 7 years, First Baptist Church of Crossville, TN for 2 years, and First Baptist Church of Rockwood, TN for 51 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents George F. Bannorra Sr., and Julia A. Bannorra (Abdo), and siblings- Charles L. Bannorra, Rosalie Bannorra Cardwell, Deloris Bannorra, Maria Bannorra Gentry, and Dana A. Bannorra.
She is survived by her husband John B. Gooch; sons Raymond B. Gooch (Kathy Jones Gooch) and John H. Gooch; seven grandchildren; eleven great grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and siblings George F. Bannorra Jr., John E. Bannorra and Garfilia F. Bannorra White.
A celebration of life for Cathy will be held October 24, 2015 at 2:30p.m. at Harmony Baptist Church with Brother David Wilkerson officiating.
I can not begin to express how loved this precious lady is by all who knew her. She is my own “Aunt Cat”! She was and is a joyful soul. She and my Mama would giggle so hard and Aunt Aunt Cat always ended up crying! Warm hugs and laughter followed her every where! This world has lost a precious gift.
I was so sad when I heard Mrs. Kathy had passed. I remember as a teenager in First Baptist, Rockwood her trying to keep all of us young people straight. She was such a precious lady. We all loved her dearly.