Cathy N McCurdy

Cathy Nell McCurdy, 60, died on June 18, 2021 following a brief hospital stay. She was preceded in death by her parents, Joel B. McCurdy and Dorothy McConnell McCurdy and adopted mother Jean Herndon McCurdy, and by her Aunt Franelle M. Wood for whom she was named. She is survived by many cousins and numerous dear friends.

She obtained her Bachelor of Science in International Relations from the College of William and Mary, a Master of International Business and Marketing from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Memphis. She spent her junior year of college at the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, Austria. While there, Cathy served as a United Nations Research Intern. She was fluent in German.

Ms. McCurdy retired in 2016 after teaching in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools for almost 30 years, from 1987 to 1997 at Highland Heights Middle School, and from 1997 to 2016 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School. Her specialties were Literature, Creative Writing, and Language Arts. She was known as an innovative, caring teacher who positively impacted the lives of hundreds of students and inspired some of them to follow her example and enter teaching themselves. She won numerous teaching awards while at Highland Heights, including the WKRN Channel 2 “Teacher of the Year” award which is determined by student vote. She often oversaw after-school activities, such as forensics, and coached teams at Highland Heights that won Academic Olympics competitions on multiple occasions. Her other professional activities included serving as a consultant for College Board who presented workshops on Pre-Advanced Placement classes to school districts in different states such as the Forsyth City School System in Georgia and the Mobile County Public School System in Alabama, presenting pre-college educational summer programs in creative writing for schools such as Millsaps College (Jackson, Mississippi) and Duke University (Durham, North Carolina), and answering countless student questions via Homework Hotline.

She was a member of MENSA for about 35 years and served in a variety of leadership positions over those years for the Nashville group (Middle Tennessee Mensa) including LocSec (the top local officer), Testing Coordinator, Events Coordinator, and Regional Gathering Chair. She was also a member of many educational associations and of the Crievewood United Methodist Church.

Cathy enjoyed art, film, theatre, and music, especially opera, and had a sharp wit. She was a fabulous cook and had a refined sense of style. She believed strongly in pet rescue and adoption, sometimes serving as an animal foster parent. She adopted several rescue pets of her own.

A private graveside service will be held at Woodlawn Memorial Park, and a Celebration of Life is being planned for the afternoon of July 10th.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Cathy’s honor to one’s charity of choice. Some suggested charities include the Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation (AARF), the Nashville Humane Association, and the Pet Community Center (Nashville).