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KATHERINE’S STORY None of us know the length of our lives, the joys we will know, the trauma we will experience. When Katherine Neil was born on August 10, 1924, in Pleasanton, Texas, she was the fifth child of John Robert and Bertha Larison Neil. Katherine was the second daughter, and her five-year-old big sister Dorothy was thrilled to have another girl in the house. They didn’t know at the time, but four more children were going to arrive, placing Katherine squarely as the middle child. Sadness encompassed the family nine months later when second son Kenneth was struck down by a fatal childhood illness. He was nine years old. Bertha was inconsolable and Katherine was taken in by a neighbor until the family could function around the needs of an infant once more. As the family grew, life became more complicated, money was never abundant. Everyone pitched in to make ends meet and, even though times were difficult during those years following the great depression, the Neil Girls made the best of their lives. As teens they got a lot of attention from the boys in the neighborhood. Beautiful Katherine, athletic Lillian, petite Evelyn! When together as adults the girls would tell stories about boys coming to visit them carrying watermelons up the muddy lane or of going dancing at Luxello Hall. When those conversations started the laughter would begin. When Katherine was in high school, Bertha contracted tuberculosis, and life was disrupted once more. Katherine dropped out of school at Alamo Heights to help care for her siblings, to run the house while her mom went to a tuberculosis hospital for recuperation. The older children were married or working during that time and as the eldest at home, the responsibility fell to her. It couldn’t have been easy for any of them – Katherine, Lillian, Evelyn, Richard, and Betty Jean. However, during those years a family bond was forged that would never be broken. When Lawrence, the third born son, was killed during WWII, the family needed that bond, the support of all of them to come through their sadness. Katherine married during the war years, a tumultuous first marriage unsuccessful in every way but for the creation of two children – Barbara Ann and Robert James. She brought them into her marriage with Elroy Classen, who was the love of her life. Elroy and Katherine were active nine pin bowlers at Wetmore Bowling Club and Katherine had quite a reputation among ten pin bowlers at various sites in San Antonio. She and Elroy became parents together when Roy Wayne was born in 1960, the long-awaited son who would carry on the Classen name. They became grandparents when Barbara’s daughter, Alyson Brink was born. Then when Roy was anticipating his eleventh birthday, Robert was killed in a motorcycle accident the day before. It seemed like the end of life for Katherine as she grieved the death of her son who had only recently returned from the war in Viet Nam. She was 48 then and had no idea she had 50 plus more years of life to live. Katherine and Elroy were blessed a few months later when another grandchild, J.J. Brink was born. The grief of losing Robert never left, but the joy of the children in their lives helped them begin to heal. They were blessed with many good friends – Frank and Frances Marckwardt, Lloyd and Evelyn Kneuper, Carl and Frieda Reichenbach, Eddie and Nancy Carr, Imogene and Hardy Howard, Wilton and Helen Steubing, Leslie and Gladys Steubing, Eldred and Milda Schneider, Lynn Newman and many more. Thanksgiving was a family tradition at Redland Road! Katherine and Elroy always invited all the family and some friends to their home where everyone contributed to the feast. We all looked forward to those dinners, the games and comradery. Then Roy married Debora Roberts and while that was a wonderful event, it left an empty nest. Katherine filled her days working at the Natural Selection gift store owned by Elroy’s cousin, Melva Uecker. Katherine bloomed there and made many friends which turned into lifetime relationships. She traveled several times to Oklahoma with the sisters to visit their Aunt Jessie, to Las Vegas with Roy and Debbie and Debbie’s parents. That became an annual trip for Katherine and Elroy! They also took short trips with Wilton and Helen Steubing, Elroy’s cousin, to casinos in Mississippi and Nevada. Katherine again experienced the joy of grandchildren when Roy and Debbie had Matthew and then Kristen. Then sadness when her grandson J.J. died. She was challenged by her knee replacement surgeries. But nothing devastated her quite as much as Elroy’s death in 2003. She stayed in the Redland house until her beloved watchdog, Socks, died. Only then did she decide to sell her home and moved into an apartment at Independence Hill. There began an almost twenty-year residency. Friendships blossomed as Katherine became an active senior, playing bingo, horse races, participating in weekly poker games, traveling with a group of residents on a cruise to Mexico, then a road trip with Barbara Ann and her niece, Bonnie, to visit granddaughter Alyson in the Dakotas. The final nine years of Katherine’s life created more physical challenges than could be anticipated. If it were not for Dina Lott and her group of caregivers - Jacqueline Carr, Marilou Delrosario, Vannisa Bennett, Teresa Allen, and Tameka Bonds, it might have been unbearable. Katherine lost her vision due to macular degeneration, her hearing, Lewy-Body Syndrome, and a debilitating stroke at the height of the COVID pandemic. Dina Lott moved into Katherine’s apartment and lived there, her single caring caregiver for the imposed COVID isolation. They established a beautiful bond and endless gratitude from Katherine and the family for Dina’s devotion. The highpoints of those years were the birth of Katherine’s great-granddaughters. She was able to hold Kristen’s Riley Kate and heard about the birth of Matthew’s Emilia Rose. Their births tempered the recent loss of her dear friend and sister-in-law, Marjorie Grounds. Katherine was the last of the Larison Neil brood to survive, almost the last of her good friends, too. Many of us thought she would live forever, but there was another plan in place. She had accomplished all required of her life on earth and the time had come to rejoin Elroy and all of those who had passed before her. She peacefully left us early the morning of February 13th, 2023. Graveside service will be held on February 20 at 1pm at Sunset Memorial Park 1701 Austin Hwy 78209, with Elder Craig Bonds officiating. Appreciation to the family members who are Pallbearers for Katherine: Matthew Classen, Reese Tatman, Mark Casella, Kirk Graham, Jeremy Deans and Philip O’Connor. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the J.J. Brink Scholarship Fund at the Winston School 8565 Ewing Halsell Dr, San Antonio, 78229 or charity of your choice.

Tributes

Katherine Classen

August 10, 1924 - February 13, 2023