I've posted about Catherine Quirk a little before...or Aunt Kay as family called her. My mom, aunt and uncle always spoke fondly of Aunt Kay. Sadly, Catherine died 11 years before I was born.
Catherine (Katherine) was born on 24JUL1878 to William and Mary Quirk nee Lee. She was the sixth of nine children, three of which died before reaching adulthood. She never married, but lived most of her life with her parents and siblings. She helped to raise my grandmother Mary A. Brown nee Quirk after her mother, Alice Quirk nee Blanchfield, died in 1915.
Even though my grandmother lost her mom when she was only 2 years old (was she really old enough to remember her?), it's heartening to know that her life was filled with love from her mother's Blanchfield side as well as from her father's Quirk side. Catherine may not have had children of her own, but I'm sure she looked at her niece with the love and affection of a mother.
Rest in peace, Aunt Kay.