CUMBERLAND – Catherine A. Sumpter passed away quietly in her home Friday, May 21, after battling with pancreatic cancer. She is survived by her husband of 47 years, John “Jack” R. Sumpter Jr.; daughter, Ellen J. Hathaway and her husband Jonathan D. Hathaway, and son, John D. Sumpter; and grandchildren, Christopher, Joshua and Benjamin Hathaway, Guenevere Rosenthal, and Matthew Sumpter; sisters, Joan Doughty, Elaine Bush, Gertrude Sweetland and Anna Charles; brother, Norman Taylor; and half-brothers, Rhodes and Elwood “Bud” Haskell.

She was pre-deceased by one sister, Lida Harris; and brothers, John and Lane Taylor.

She was born in Falmouth, the daughter of John Edward and Anna May Grubb Taylor. At a young age, her family moved to Cumberland, and she graduated from Greely Institute in 1951. During her high school years, she was a guard on the basketball team, a catcher for the softball team, and enjoyed singing in the school operettas.

In 1954, she graduated from the first class of the Maine Medical Center School of Nursing, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. She worked in the operating room of Maine Medical Center from the time she graduated until she retired from her position as OR manager in 1992. She often told stories of the wonderful friendships she had there, and her many pioneering experiences in the OR, including assisting with the first open heart and kidney transplant surgeries in Maine.

She and Jack were married on July 14, 1956. In their early years, they enjoyed their membership in the Cumberland County Recreation Council, spending summers at camps, learning folk and square dances, and having fun with their multi-cultural group of friends. They spent several of their anniversaries celebrating their many years of love and happiness traveling to places such as Israel, Venezuela, Scandinavia, the Rockies and the Alps. They also enjoyed camping by lakes in Maine during the summer and “leaf-peeping” in the fall with the whole family.

She was a very active member of the Tuttle Road United Methodist Church, sharing her creative talents as chairman of worship for many years. Beautiful altar flower arrangements, chancel banners and use of symbolism during the service, as well as the creation of choir robes and beautiful costumes for church plays, were some of the ways she used her God-given gifts. She was also responsible for the making of the famous Harvard beets for the Swedish meatball suppers, was a member of the church choir, maintained the church garden and served on many committees over the years.

Her talents were numerous, and she shared them freely with those she knew and loved. She was a seamstress extraordinaire, creating from scratch her daughter’s (and several other’s) wedding gown. She also created an authentic reproduction of a Revolutionary War uniform for use in Bicentennial parade, her son’s prom tuxedo, and many dresses and suits for the children in her life. Her knitting needles were always busy during her plane rides, crafting Irish knit and Icelandic wool sweaters for her husband and family. The wedding or other special occasion cakes she was often asked to make for friends and family were both beautiful and unique to the person receiving it.

She loved to garden, and neighbors love to watch her yard bloom each spring and summer. Her love of flowers was also expressed through lovely floral arrangements, which graced the church, weddings and her family’s homes. She was an avid photographer, and was very excited about being able to enhance her photos with a digital camera and computer. In her retirement years, Cathie became a member of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America, creating cross-stitch and crewel works of art.

At the age of 46, Cathie was miraculously cured of metastatic ovarian cancer, and for the rest of her life, she spent countless hours meeting with cancer patients and their families, offering them support, guidance and encouragement. Over the course of her life, she suffered a total of five primary cancers, undergoing surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Throughout all these times of suffering, Cathie remained strong and uncomplaining. Her Christian faith and positive attitude served as a source of inspiration to all those who knew her.