KATHLEEN LEHTO CATALDI, AGE 101, ‘LOVED TO LAUGH’
The thing people remember most about Kathleen Lehto Cataldi is her sense of humor.
“She loved to laugh and she had an excellent sense of humor,” Karen Concepcion said. “That was something people really enjoyed about my mother.”
Cataldi was 101 when she died of complications related to COVID-19 on May 27. She spent the bulk of her life in Eureka after moving to the city with her family in 1931, Concepcion said.
“She liked the climate,” said Cronder Concepcion, Cataldi’s son-in-law.
Cataldi was born with her twin brother in North Bend, Oregon, on Feb. 8, 1919 to Finnish immigrants. After moving to Eureka, Cataldi helped at the family business, Lehto Bakery, with her two brothers.
She continued to work there after graduating from Eureka Senior High School in 1938, though she also spent a year studying at Humboldt State University and got her associate’s degree in psychology from College of the Redwoods.
Cataldi left Eureka for a year during World War II to work in the shipyards of San Francisco, Karen Concepcion said.
“She was one of the ‘Rosie the Riveters,’ “Concepcion said.
When she came back to Eureka, she married John Oster, a member of the 107th Cavalry Regiment patrolling the California coastline, their daughter Karen Concepcion said. After Oster died, Kathleen Concepcion later married a local fireman, Horace Cataldi, to whom she was married for several years until he died.
Cataldi worked at the family bakery until she was middleaged and would do everything from baking to bookkeeping to deliveries, Concepcion said.
Beyond her sense of humor, Concepcion said people knew her mother as an accomplished
pianist, an avid reader who liked nonfiction books, and someone who enjoyed baking and sewing, particularly aprons for family
and friends.
Cataldi taught her “lots of fun things,” Concepcion said, like how to bake a cake, make a
casserole, make candy and play the piano.
“My mother was very support
ive of me,” Concepcion said.
Cataldi always emphasized education and taught Concepcion how to read before she entered kindergarten, she said. Concepcion remembered fondly how her mother would take her to the children’s room at the county library and leave with an armload of books.
“I must credit my mother for the gentle pushing always to get good grades, go to college,” Concepcion
said. “… I’m glad I had that from her.”
The residents and staff at Alder Bay Assisted Living Facility, where Cataldi spent her final days, also remembered her fondly, particularly her sense of humor, said Mark Stephenson, administrator of the facility. Cataldi had no filter when she would express her thoughts, often making people laugh, he said.
“She was a salty and beloved character,” Stephenson said. “… We all loved her.”