Obituary of Catherine Marie Bigelow Gullickson

Catherine passed away November 17, 2014 after an 11-year battle with breast cancer. She was surrounded by her immediate family and fought to the end. She was an accomplished and gifted woman and we will miss her dearly. She was born on July 22, 1960 in Seattle, WA and grew up in Yakima, WA. It was apparent early on that she possessed a high degree of intelligence and was a voracious reader. Her early sports interest was in softball, but as time went on she migrated to tennis, where she and her father would rally for hours on end. In high school she had a wide variety of interests and friends that were a testament to her dynamic personality. Tennis took her to the state finals and then to the University of Portland where she played all 4 years and concurrently pursued her Bachelors of Nursing. She found an outlet for her passions in nursing and loved the intellectual challenge of the courses in combination with the compassion of caring for others. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and began what became a successful and memorable career. She met her husband Jeff on a blind date, both of whom were reluctant to attend. Her classic beauty, wicked sense of humor, and endless patience were irresistible, and after a short engagement they were married. She continued her nursing career until the birth of their third child, at which time she began her most important calling: full- time Mom. She was a gifted athlete, an accomplished pianist, a master knitter, and she loved to garden. Her biggest joy however was her family, and she was its hub. Raising four children was the greatest accomplishment of her life, and her legacy will continue to live on through each of them. For Catherine, her life was all about quality over quantity, and that is evident in the intense and endearing relationships she fostered throughout her life. While she may not have had the longest life, she lived so fully and so passionately that you would be hard-pressed to find someone who lived a more meaningful life. She was a loyal companion, a fierce friend, and always put loved ones first; her life was never about her. When cancer entered her life, she took it on head first and with grace, as she did everything. She endured without ever a complaint, and remained dedicated to her family until the very end. She viewed her cancer as her issue to deal with, and kept it from impacting her loved ones. She was the strongest person any of us have ever known. She is survived by her husband Jeff; children Anna, Ben, Peter, and Conrad; new son-in-law Scott; parents Jim and Maureen; and sisters Susan and Anne. She also leaves behind numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, sisters-, brothers-, and parents-in-law. All of us are heartbroken, but forever grateful we had her in our lives. The family will hold a private service at a future time, and in lieu of a public funeral service, we have set up a nursing scholarship in her name at the University of Portland. Please see information regarding that below. Catherine fought breast cancer for just over 11 years, and endured what seems like countless treatments. She was in more that two-dozen hospitals, clinics, or doctor’s offices, all across the country. They were impressive institutions, but they all looked the same from the inside. The doctors had been well trained at reputable medical schools, had access to state of the art technology, and were able to treat her cancer proficiently. However, the human connection came from the nurses, and they made all the difference. The right nurse made a difficult experience tolerable, and the wrong nurse made it terrifying. In the span of her cancer treatments, we had a chance to experience the full spectrum of care by the nursing staff. As her survivors, we wanted to find some way of honoring Catherine, and if possible, also make a difference. We have decided to fund an endowment to provide a scholarship in her honor. If we can start out by helping just one nursing student achieve their dream of becoming a nurse, we will have succeeded. Our hope is that one day, a recipient of Catherine’s scholarship will be able to make a patient’s experience just a little more tolerable. The lives that he or she could touch over the span of their career would be an exponential impact of her legacy. Catherine earned her Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University of Portland and started her career working the graveyard shift in a nursing home. She then moved to a hospital working shifts in multiple departments, ultimately finding her calling in the emergency room. This venue provided the environment for her sharp intellect, selflessness, and forceful patient advocacy to flourish. This was where she found herself. Her compassion for the scared mother bringing her child in with an infection, her patience for the drunk getting stitches at 3am, or her competence and confidence to stand up to the arrogant doctor making the incorrect call. The 12-hour shifts played to her tireless stamina, and the pace appealed to her intellect; the ability to think quickly and act correctly was where she thrived. Cancer research raises countless millions of dollars every year and is for a fantastic cause. The funding for medical research and treatment institutions is significant, and the technology is unparalleled. Physicians make great sacrifices, and invest years of their lives in the training necessary to treat cancer. What we saw make the biggest impact in Catherine’s care was the nurses coming in to administer to her and also bring her another blanket because she was cold, move her pillow because she was uncomfortable, or hold her hand until her medicine kicked in. This opportunity is to fund the human aspect that is so important in the delivery of medicine and healing: nurses. Our goal is to raise $200,000 in the next 4 years to fund this scholarship. Then, our long-term goal is to build a $1,000,000 endowment to fund multiple student nurses, in perpetuity. The University of Portland has agreed to manage this, and we have committed to match every dollar donated to get to the goal of $200,000 over the 4-year period. Join us in honoring Catherine, and the under-appreciated yet noble profession of Nursing. Details will follow the week of November 24. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou