In Memory of Cat. Comments are Welcome 01/31/2011

14 Comments

 

Mary Catherine Bell, fondly known as Cat, passed away January 22, 2011 at the age of 60. Cat was born in Morganton, NC to Vance Brackett and Ethel Marie Draughon.

Cat spent much of her early childhood helping her grandma May, a strong, generous woman who ran a dairy farm, and “lovin’ on” all the animals. When her family moved to Florida, Cat regularly swam in the coves and played on the beaches. Working to help support her mother and sister from an early age, she planted vegetables, helped raise her sister and took care of the household. When her high school experienced a teacher shortage, Cat even taught math while she herself was still in high school. In college Cat spent time studying ceramics. She was talented and creative; however, college didn't stick. The beach was closer, and she loved to swim and surf. For a time she lived on an island in the Keys, catching fish for dinner and sleeping in a hammock.

Cat started modeling at age 11. In her late teens she moved to Italy to work for Mademoiselle Milan and fell in love with the country. Cat worked as a runway model in Paris, Milan and New York as well. After Europe, Cat moved to Baltimore, MD, and continued to model. In the early mornings she rose to walk horses at the race track, a job she truly enjoyed. As a model, her work called for her to hang from the sides of helicopters and land planes in advertisements for the Army. She once made a bikini out of an underground publication called The Paper and when a photographer took her picture in it, The Paper printed it full page on the back. While in Baltimore, Cat enjoyed the music from a record store under her apartment and began dating the owner, Jonathan Bell. He raced cars, played in a band and worked as a design engineer at Black & Decker. At a time when many women wore bell-bottoms, brown clothes and ironed their hair flat, Cat, fresh from Italy, preferred bright silk tops and tucked her jeans into tall Italian leather boots. Her glamorous, traffic-stopping blonde waves, big blue eyes and red lipstick stood out; and Jonathan took notice.

In the early 70s, Cat, Jonathan and close friends sold their belongings and caravanned to Oregon to “return to the land”. Settling in the Kooskia and Orofino area of rural Idaho, Cat and Jonathan bought 200 acres, built a house with no running water and raised goats, chickens, horses and dogs. Cat farmed, selling produce to local grocers, and ran a co-op, ordering organic supplies from across the U.S. Around this time, Cat had her first daughter, Anna. Cat’s grandma May, dubbed “Greatma” by Cat’s daughters, joined the Bell family in Idaho along with Cat’s mother and sister. In the summers, they spent many hours on the porch, chatting and snapping beans for canning.

Cat, Jonathan and Anna moved to Kooskia for a short time and then to Grangeville, where Cat’s second daughter, Jonna, was born. Cat honed her skills in home repair and construction as she and Jonathan remodeled homes. At their house on North Street, Cat established a prolific garden where others said nothing would grow. She held cookie baking parties and leaf jumping parties and sewed clothes for her daughters and neighborhood children. With little resources she could feed a hoard. She made close friends with her neighbors and together they raised their children, swam in the rivers and shared hot coals for grilling food. Cat had many stories. Recounts of her adventures were hardly believable to new folks.

Cat and her family returned to Baltimore in 1986. They stayed in Baltimore for more than four years before returning to Grangeville where, on the outskirts of town, Cat designed and built another house and barn, this time with running water.

In her forties, Cat organized a town clothing bank and sent 3000 coats to Russia. She served on the PTA and became a volunteer ski patroller and ski instructor, using the speediest racing skis she could find. In the winter, Cat loved gassing her high-powered snowmobile over snow that crumbled behind her into ravines. She also rode a custom built dirt bike that was featured on the cover of a magazine. She loved sliding that motorcycle around sharp corners on dirt trails. Her favorite times were spent on cattle drives in the Idaho wilderness with her Quarter Horse Oatis and her cow dog Maggie. An accomplished rider, Cat could hang off Oatis’s side and tap the ground with her foot, before swinging to the other side to do the same. Cat had a custom saddle made for Oatis, complete with floating fiberglass and a steel girth that let him breathe and run at full speed. Cat’s love of animals and plants was clear and always available, often caring for those injured and abandoned. Forever willing to learn and teach, Cat was frequently sought for her knowledge and insight into horse care, training and riding. She had a soft spot for Arabians, Quarter Horses, Tennessee Walkers and Missouri Fox Trotters.

In the early 2000s, Cat and Jonathan separated and Cat moved to Boise, ID where she became an award-winning real estate agent. The business of selling land and property was her dream job. She loved the people and talking about the business. For ten years, Cat rode in the Owyhee Mountains with Oatis. In 2009 she was joined by her partner, John Ballard, and his dog Carter.

Picture Cat out in the field, with her summer-blonde hair, wearing a red top, skirt and leopard-print heels, fixing a sprinkler head and closing a deal on the phone. She was having what she considered the time of her life.

Just over a year ago Cat learned she had an aggressive cancer. Determined to recover, she maintained a strong spirit through the most trying of treatments. She was sad to leave her friends, family and horses but felt at peace with her love of God. She was often fond of saying "Hug your loved ones."

Cat is survived by her two daughters, Anna and Jonna, her partner, John Ballard, her sister Linda and brother, David.