Catharine Glade Carey

Catharine (Kitty) Carey, 87, passed away at home on August 8th, 2026, from Parkinson's, a disease that froze her face and bent her body but never quelled her spirit. 

Born in Aurora, Illinois, on April 25th, 1939, to Ted and Jo Langford, she was a great niece of Nathaniel Pitt Langford, the first superintendent of Yellowstone Park. She grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin, with summers on the St. Croix River near Stillwater, Minnesota. Her grandfather, Karl Neumeier, had purchased riverside property where a series of old sandstone railroad piers crossed the river, a place known formerly as "Landing Hill" and later simply as "The Piers." She loved the St. Croix, her swims and picnics on the sandy islands, and her canoe forays, upstream and down, that began at an early age and continued into her sixties. 

She attended Beloit College graduating cum laude in biology. Later she took math classes at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon. When her children were grown, she returned to school and earned a master's degree in clinical psychology at the University of Idaho. 

She wore many professional hats, beginning as a medical technologist in Ann Arbor, then as a bacteriologist at Yale New Haven Hospital in the early 1960s. In Ashland, in the 1970s, she worked as a computer programmer writing programs in Fortran and COBOL for businesses all over the valley, included a major program for the Ashland Shakespearean Festival. After her psychology studies in the late 1980s, she worked as a counselor for Curry County Mental Health in Gold Beach, Oregon, then as a private counselor in Ashland. 

She enjoyed many interests. She and her husband bicycled all over England and Europe on multiple trips. After a serious accident on her two-wheeler, she took up the recumbent trike, riding roads and trails in several western states. She and her husband were regulars on the Missoula paths. She loved to dance. When a band started playing, you couldn't keep her off the floor. A band in Central Point started up a Polka or a Hambo every time they saw her coming. She loved to hike and cross-country ski. She knew the trails at Patti Canyon well. She loved her garden flowers. She loved a good novel, particularly historical novels. She bounced down the Blackfoot in her "duckie" every time she could, even into her eighties. In her seventies she took up duplicate bridge and became a regional master. She gave generously to many organizations, particularly those involved in environmental causes. She worried about the state of the planet, not on her own account, but for her children and grandchildren. She was active for many years in the League of Women Voters. She was a sweet and retiring person but resolute and courageous in her convictions about love, family, and social justice. 

Married in 1961, she and her husband, Robin, celebrated a 65th wedding anniversary last December.  

She is survived by a sister, JoAnn O'Connor; by her husband, Robin; by a son David (Dev) Carey of Paonia, Colorado, and his children, Seraya and Huck; by a daughter, Jennifer Carey of Missoula, and her children, Marion Jones and Garon Jones.  

Contributions in her name can be made to The Clark Fork Coalition and The Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC).