Cathleen Jeanne Wist
Cathleen Jeanne Wist passed away peacefully on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, after a battle with brain cancer. She was 64.
Cathy, as she was known to family and friends, was born in Huntington, N.Y. on April 4, 1959, to Paul and Judy Burns. She would eventually move with her family to Southold, N.Y., and graduate from Southold High School in 1977.
After high school, Cathy attended Quinnipiac College in Connecticut to pursue a degree in occupational therapy. It’s there that she would meet Ronald Wist, whom she would marry in 1981.
Cathy and Ron would spend time in Maine and West Virginia before settling in Asheville, N.C., in 1984. It’s there that they would welcome two sons, John William Wist and Ronald Marc Wist Jr.
Cathy spent several years doing inpatient occupational therapy but spent the majority of her working years treating patients as a home care OT. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Cathy drove hundreds of thousands of miles to care for patients in their homes, many of whom informally adopted her as a part of their families. In 1999, the Wist family moved to Berlin, Md., where Cathy would continue home care until her retirement in 2022.
Cathy loved to travel with her family, taking annual summer road trips in their RV. After her children graduated high school, Cathy and Ron started traveling more internationally with trips to Italy and, Cathy’s favorite, Ireland.
There was always one thing Cathy made sure to leave the house with: her knitting. She was a skilled and talented knitter and loved to create sweaters, shawls, blankets and socks for friends, family and even her patients. Cathy enjoyed attending wool and sheep festivals, hunting through yarn shops for skeins upon skeins of yarn, and stopping to visit “sheeps” whenever and wherever she saw them.
For many years, Cathy could be found every Sunday greeting folks at the door of Ocean Pines Community Church and serving in Stephen Ministry. Shortly before being diagnosed with a brain tumor Cathy launched an initiative called The Jesus Marathon to encourage attenders to spend time walking and praying with the goal of getting the congregation to take more than 250,000 steps.
Cathy was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Judy.
She is survived by her two children, John (Lauren) Wist and Marc (Liz) Wist; her brother, Paul (Bob) (Liz) Burns Jr., and sister, Nancy (Cara) Fischer; five grandchildren, Eliot, Evelyn and Emilia Wist, and Cullen and Quaid Wist; and ex-husband, Ron.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, at First Presbyterian Church of Southold. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care, 1 Meeting House Road, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978.
You may also donate online at eeh.org/ways-to-give/donate and designate the Kanas Center for Hospice Care.
This is a paid notice.
