The Mass of Christian Burial is 9:00 AM Wednesday, May 31, at St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Gladstone, burial will be in White Chapel Cemetery. A visitation is from 5-7 PM Tuesday, May 30, at the McGilley Antioch Chapel, 3325 Northeast Vivion Road, where the rosary will be prayed at 6:45 PM.
Catherine was born December 28, 1923 in Brooklyn, NY to Bronislaw and Eva (Niedzwiedz) Bakszanski both from Poland. She went to New York City public schools in Brooklyn and graduated from Lafayette High School in January 1941. A proud alumna of Lafayette, she always reminded people that Larry King and Sandy Koufax were Lafayette High alums. After high school and during the war years, she did secretarial work in lower Manhattan. Her mother died in January 1942 and was kindly remembered for Kate’s entire life.
In 1948, Kate married Michael William Deery in St. Finbar’s Church, Brooklyn. In 1950 they moved to Rockaway in Queens, N.Y. There they raised three children: Patricia, William, and Michael. In Rockaway, Kate was active at St. Gertrude's Church where she and her sister Josephine cooked at the parish rectory and helped with the church youth programs. In the 1960s, she went back to Manhattan for work as a statistical typist at the Madison Avenue advertising firm of Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn (BBDO). In 1972, she and Michael moved the family to Kansas City when he was transferred from his accounting job in Brooklyn. This was not an easy move as it meant leaving her sisters and their families behind in New York.
Kate lived in Gladstone for 51 years and was a member of St. Andrew the Apostle Church. She remained a strong Catholic for all her life, often reading through little prayer books, even though by her early 90s dementia took much of her mental acuity.
Kate loved her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and was proud of their accomplishments. She rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, most of all, but made an exception for Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals. She later switched allegiance to NY Mets and KC Royals. She was an avid gardener, crocheter, and knitter. Up through her early 80s, she was an excellent cook and baker, a talent much appreciated by all who sat down to a meal at her house. She liked dropping coins into slot machines but would only play one coin at a time. She liked rhyming words, even if the result made no sense – “okie, dokie, lemon, okie.” In the early morning hours of a summer day when her children wanted to sleep in, she came roaring into the bedroom with “Rise and shine with the New York Maritime” or “You gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up in the morning” to the tune of “Reveille.” She loved and missed Charlie, her little Yorkshire terrier.
Survivors include her children, Patricia Deery Kurtz and husband, John of Kansas City, William Michael Deery and Michael John Deery, both of Hollywood, FL; 2 grandchildren, Sean Deery and Jaime McDermott and husband, Joseph; 3 great-grandchildren, Brodie, Morgan, and Joseph McDermott; brother-in-law, William Sweeney; many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by Michael Deery, her husband of 74 years, her parents, her sisters and brothers-in-law: Grace Orlikowski, Josephine McGlynn (Dennis), Pauline Bazan, and Mary Letourneau (Marcel); her sisters-in-law and their husbands: Eileen Deery, Margaret Mary Meagher (Thomas), Cathleen Sweeney, and Claire Rudden (John), and nephews, Terrence Meagher and Brian Sweeney.
The family is grateful to Dorothy Gully, who for many years was Kate’s and Michael’s daytime caregiver. Her assistance helped Kate and Michael stay at their home enjoying a fairly active life throughout their 90s.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Gladstone, or Wayside Waifs, or any charity of your choice.
Serving as honorary pallbearers are William Deery, Michael Deery, Sean Deery and John Kurtz.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.mcgilleyantiochchapel.com for the Deery family.
