Catharine S. Gebhardt of Dallas, Texas passed away on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at the age of 91. Catharine was born June 27, 1925 in Kutztown, PA to George and Helen Sittler.  Catharine’s family has a long history in Pennsylvania and she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Although she lived for 67 years in Texas she was always proud of her “Yankee” heritage.

She graduated from Kutztown High school in 1943.  During WWII she served as a member of the Aircraft Warning Service to keep watch for enemy planes entering American airspace.She graduated in three years from the University of Kutztown in 1946 with a BA in Library Science and a minor in Elementary Education.  After graduating she served as the librarian at Danville High School in Danville, PA for one year before joining the staff of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA in 1947 as an assistant librarian.  She frequently remarked her time at Muhlenberg was one of her favorite jobs due to the fact there was no rules against staff dating students. In 1950 Catharine followed her brother George and his wife Lynn and moved to Dallas, TX where she took a job at Republic National Bank as a teller.  Although she left the job after just two months she did meet her future husband, Ted Gebhardt, Sr., who also worked at the bank. Later in 1950 she started work at Southern Methodist University as an Assistant Librarian in Fondren Library. Catharine taught kindergarten at First United Methodist Church in Richardson, TX and was a substitute teacher in RISD in the 1970’s. In 1978, she became an assistant librarian at the University of Texas at Dallas and retired from there in 1988.  Catharine was an avid genealogist and was never hesitant to discuss her 30,000 “close” relatives. In her late 80’s she went back to school and took classes at Richland Junior college on subjects as varied as the IPad, the Cold War and Happiness. She was a 40 year member of Spring Valley UMC and was grateful to the people of SVUMC who gave her love and support.  She was a five-time cancer survivor and attributed this to her faith in God. She is preceded in death by her husband of 59 years Ted Gebhardt, Sr. and her brother George Sittler.  Catharine is survived by her son Ted Jr. and his wife Carla, her grandson Ted III and her nieces Sherry Haun, Alice Clarke, Julia Powell and other great nieces and nephews. A devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend, Catharine will always be remembered as a generous and caring person with a great sense of humor who had the ability to relate to people of all ages.  She will be missed.

Celebration of Life Service will begin after the visitation at 10:00am on Thursday, April 13 at Spring Valley United Methodist Church, 7700 Spring Valley Road, Dallas, Texas 75254.  Catharine will interred next to her husband Ted at 2:00pm the same day at DFW National Cemetery, 2000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75211.

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