Kathleen Mccarthy

Kathleen Ann McCarthy, also known as Katie or Kate, died peacefully on June 5, 2021 at the age of 37. She is survived by her fiancé, Jason Cathey, Shreveport, Louisiana; her adoring parents, Rosemary (Rose) and Martin (Marty) McCarthy, Flossmoor, IL; and her two brothers, Stephen (Steve) McCarthy, Chicago, Illinois, and Timothy (Tim) McCarthy and Brittany Rennecker and their two daughters, Kaia and Mackenzie Rennecker-McCarthy, Highlands Ranch, Colorado.  She is preceded in death by her grandparents, Stephen and Joan McCarthy and Ray and Lois Wild.

Katie was born in Munster, Indiana, and spent her formative years in Floosmoor, Illinois, graduating from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in 2002, and later earning a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from DePaul University.  Her natural and intuitive fashion sense (including her love of clothes, shoes and purses) was solidified through her study of Fashion Merchandising at the Illinois Institute of Design. While she adored her hometown of Chicago, as well as the Chicago Bears, White Sox, and Blackhawks, she moved to Denver in 2014. Since then, she worked as a Senior Accountant for a number of companies, with one serving as the conduit to her meeting her fiancé and the love of her life.

She was a “dog person” and her two Rhodesian Ridgebacks—Walter Sweetness and Franklin Peanut—were her other loves, and appropriately named after some of the Chicago Bear and White Sox greats. They were her and Jason’s travel companions as they ventured to South Dakota and New Mexico and throughout Colorado. Given the uniqueness of the breed and their spirited character, as well as Katie’s vivacious personality, strangers and friends alike were drawn to know her and Jason’s 4 legged friends. In addition to hiking with the dogs, Katie enjoyed playing volleyball and softball.

Katie was a fiercely loyal and loving family member, fiancé, and friend—all of whom could count on her to support, defend and listen to them. While our society is very mobile and people in our physical space come and go, Katie had the gift of developing and nourishing lifelong friendships despite being physically separated. Her brothers were two of her best friends. With Steve, among many things, she enjoyed endless shows of Jeopardy and Family Feud. She and Tim—both social butterflies—enjoyed sporting events, socializing with friends and frequenting the Denver bar scene. Independent, irreverent, fiery, strong and vibrant are the adjectives those who know Katie use to describe her essence. She called a spade a spade, and she had no patience for bullshit, stupidity and injustice.

Katie loved to travel, both domestically and internationally, taking in the sites of Paris, Switzerland, Brussels, Dublin, and Spain with her best friend Ashley. She also traveled across the United States to many of the Bears away games with her friend, Carey, and her favorite father and brother Tim. A beautiful soul with an adventurous spirit, Katie relished exploring new cultures, diverse peoples, and delectable and what some might classify, bizarre and unusual foods. As the family carries on her passion to travel, we intend to share our Katie with the world, with her spirit radiating in many far and distant lands into perpetuity.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held June 10, 2021 at 11am at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church in Denver. A Celebration of Life will be held on July 16, 2021 in Flossmoor, IL, details forthcoming.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be directed to the American Cancer Society.

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