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Cathryn Louise “Cathy Lou” Anderson, PhD, passed away peacefully April 30, 2025, at Bent County Health Care Center in Las Animas. She was born November 21, 1938, in La Junta to Ross P. Anderson, Sr. and Amy Hunter Anderson.

Cathryn was known to many and by several different names, including Cathryn, Cathy, Katie, Lou, and Dr. Cat. She grew up on the family ranch, and could often be found tagging along behind her big brother, Rouk, or her dad in the family shop, or out on the ranch. Cathryn attended Arlington School in Arlington, Colorado, until her junior year when she transferred to Ordway High School for her last two years of high school. She enjoyed participating in 4-H with livestock and took home many ribbons. 

She was an avid life-time student. She obtained her Bachelor of Nursing from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She returned to the family home in Arlington, and she commuted to La Junta to work as a night supervisor at the former Mennonite Hospital. 

She returned to the University of Colorado to complete a Master of Nursing degree, and obtain her Midwifery certification. She was a charter member of the Nurses Association of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In her fifties, she completed a Master degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, then completed her doctorate in public health, also from Johns Hopkins.

Cathryn traveled extensively throughout her career, delivering babies across the United States and Mexico, including Denver, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Atlanta. Cathryn enjoyed travel and, in her seventies, traveled to Europe for a Nurse Midwife conference. No matter where she traveled, Arlington was always her home base. In the early 1990s, she retired from active nursing, and continued as an active consultant in Maternal Child Health for University Hospital and Rose Medical Center in Denver. In 1996, she returned to Arlington to provide end of life care to her dad, and took over the rural mail route that he had run since 1926. 

She was a member of the Haswell rural fire department, the Kiowa County Hospital Board, and the Kiowa County Library board. In 2022, she was able to participate in the Silver Queen contest at the Colorado State Fair and, like everything she did, she did it with her own flair and rules.

She is survived by, nephew, Cecil “CD” Anderson of Cheraw; nieces, Patricia “Pat” (Jim) Robbins of Alamosa, and Cindy Anderson Jimenez of Cheraw; great nephews, Robert (Tanya) Ward of Alamosa, Lt. James (John) Ward, M.D. of Yokosuka, Japan, Nick (Vennessia) Jimenez, III of Strasburg, Quentin (Katrina) Jimenez of Northglenn, and Colin Anderson of Cheraw; great great nephews and nieces, Benjamin (Katie) Ward, Jenessa Ward, Nicholas Jimenez, IV, Violet, and Oliver Jimenez; and special caregiver, Lorena Esparza, who brought so much joy to Cathryn’s final years. 

Cathryn is preceded in death by her parents, Ross Sr. and Amy Anderson; brother, Ross “Rouk” Anderson, Jr.; sister-in-law, Vera Anderson Essary; nephew-in-law, Nick Jimenez, Jr.; and numerous cousins, aunts and uncles.

Visitation will be held May 8, 2025, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Peacock Memorial Chapel in La Junta. Funeral services will be held May 9, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Jeb Brown of the River of Life Fellowship officiating. A graveside service will follow at 2:00 p.m. at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Colorado.

Donations in Cathryn’s memory may be made to the activities program at Bent County Health Care in Las Animas.

Arrangements are under the direction of Peacock-Larsen Funeral Home & Arkansas Valley Crematory.