A Celebration of Life for Cathy Ulrich, 56, of Tallahassee, Fla., and formerly of Perry will be held at the Hotel Pattee Saturday, Aug. 10 from 4-6 p.m. Burial will take place at the Violet Hill Cemetery in Perry.
Catherine Ann Ulrich was born May 25, 1963, in Columbia, Mo., to Margaret and Raymond Harden and passed away peacefully May 30, 2019, in Tallahassee after a nine-month battle with cancer.
Cathy was confirmed in the First United Methodist Church in Perry and attended school in Perry Community Schools, graduating from Perry High School in 1981.
She continued her education at the Des Moines Area Community College and earned a degree in nursing.
Cathy spent most of her career working with the elderly in long-term care. She began working in this field when she was a junior in high school at a Perry nursing home and worked as a long-term nurse for 38 years. Her last place of employment was at the Westminster Oaks nursing home in Tallahassee.
Cathy was united in marriage to Thomas J. Ulrich Oct. 13, 1990, at the First United Methodist Church in Perry. Their only child, Mikayla Jo, was born Sept. 9, 1994, in Tucson, Ariz. The family moved to Florida in 2011 and lived on an acreage north of Tallahassee.
Cathy was a lover of animals and the outdoors. She got her first pony when she was 5 years old, and she owned horses until her mid-30s. She had many pets over the years. She owned dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, goats, parrots, snakes and tropical fish.
Catherine was a board member of the Friends of Fort Defiance State Park in Estherville, Iowa, and did frequent volunteer work there. Cathy loved gardening, camping, fishing and canoeing on rivers of Iowa and Florida.
Cathy was preceded in death by her sister, Cynthia Schuler; and her grandparents.
She is survived by her parents, Raymond and Margaret Harden; her sister, Christine Hayden; her husband, Thomas Ulrich; her daughter, Mikayla Ulrich; and her relatives in the Ulrich family.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given in her name to the Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute, the Friends of Fort Defiance State Park or the Raccoon River Pet Rescue Project in Perry.
The Carris Family Funeral Home and Cremation Care in Perry is assisting Cathy’s family with arrangements.
