Mrs. Catherine Catsy Wylie Hopkins Taylor Wylie Hopkins Schafer

27 Feb 1914 – 11 Jan 2011

Catherine Wylie Hopkins (Taylor) Schafer, known to her loving family and friends as Catsy, was born Feb. 27, 1914, in Port Deposit, MD, the third of five children of John Thomas C. Hopkins, Jr. and Florence Penney Hopkins.

A child of the Great Depression, Catsy followed her father's advice and put aside her dream of art school to train as a nurse. She fell in love with nursing, however, and was able to pursue both interests throughout her life. She graduated from Union Memorial Hospital as an RN in 1935, and took a job at Rockefeller Hospital in New York City. In 1938, she married William N. Taylor, who took her to the Panama Canal Zone. She raised three children there, founded and ran a nursery school during WWII, wrote a society column for the English language newspaper, received her pilot’s license, learned to sail, and took up nursing again at the military hospital in Fort Clayton, Canal Zone.

Following the death of her beloved husband at age 44, Catsy remained in the Canal Zone, and five years later, she met and married Lt. Col. Vernon L. Schafer. At retirement, they chose San Diego as an ideal spot for the weather, golf, and the Balboa Naval Hospital. She worked at the Naval Hospital starting in the late 1960’s and helped create their first Coronary Care Unit. She continued to study nursing and received a post-graduate degree from the University of San Diego; she was also an active member of the Balboa Park Ladies Golf Group, even being honored with a tournament in her name.

Catsy's great passion from the time she went to Panama until her death was genealogy, because she wanted her children to know their roots. Through research done around the world, she was able to chart her family's ancestry back to the 7th century. She was involved with numerous family history and genealogy groups for seventy years, and turned her love of art to the study and painting of Coats of Arms, for which she is locally and nationally renowned. Despite losing much of her vision, Catsy mastered the computer and email, and at age 96, she asked her grandson if she should join Facebook. Both husbands predeceased her along with her son, Michael.

She is survived by her daughters, Layne Ashton (Tom) of Tarpon Springs, FL, and Susan Pitney (Louis), of San Diego; seven grandchildren, Clarke Pitney (Rocio), Layne Vann (Christopher), William Pitney (Julie), Jeffrey Pitney (Catherine), and Nico Pitney (Karina), Michael Taylor (Annie), September Schubilske (Marty); and nineteen great-grandchildren.

She was a woman who inspired love and admiration from every generation, and she will be missed by all who knew her.

A memorial service for Catsy will be held at St. Dunstan’s Church, 6556 Park Ridge Blvd, San Diego, CA 92120, at 10 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 22nd. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church or the San Diego Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.Arrangements under the direction of Merkley-Mitchell Mortuary, San Diego, CA.