Dec. 30, 1944~May 30, 2009
Longtime Rangely resident Katheryn Dollahite died suddenly, Saturday, May 30, 2009, at Rangely District Hospital.
Katheryn Gail Kenyon was born Dec. 30, 1944, in Sayre, Okla., the daughter of E.J. and Juanita (Thompson) Kenyon. As a young girl, the family moved to Climax, Colo., and then followed the oil boom to Rangely, where Katheryn was raised and attended schools. She was a 1962 graduate of Rangely High School. She became the first in her family to attend college when she enrolled in the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Denver. She was graduated in 1965 with a diploma in nursing.
She married Robert Dollahite on Aug. 5, 1967. They were later divorced but remained good friends.
Following her nurse’s training, she returned to Rangely where she went to work as a registered nurse at the “new” Rangely District Hospital. The greatest joy she had in her distinguished career was delivering babies and she proudly proclaimed that if you were born in Rangely between 1965 and 1993 she was probably the nurse on duty when you arrived in the world. Katheryn was an exceptionally intelligent and articulate woman and nurse.
She retired from the hospital in Rangely in 1995 and then worked as a nurse for several more years throughout the country. She returned to the hometown she loved to be near her family and friends in 2004.
Katheryn loved to read, crochet, care for her animals, visit with her grandchildren and fish on the Grand Mesa.
Survivors include her two children, Wesley (Cindy) Dollahite of Tooele, Utah, and Gail Casey of Broomfield, two grandchildren, Madison Shea Casey and Aiden Jakob Dollahite, one sister, Sheryl (Ken) Sheley, niece Kyeta Taylor and nephew Ian Sheley all of Rangely, and numerous friends and extended family members.
Her parents, one brother, Jimmy Dale Kenyon; and a grandson, Ryan Robert Dollahite preceded her in death.
Graveside services were at 10 a.m. Friday, June 5 at the Rangely Cemetery. Friends were asked to bring a special story or memory to share. The Rangely Mortuary was entrusted with the arrangements.
