Obituary: Fadness, Catherine “Kate” (Sue Fry)
Age 63
A graveside service will be held Thursday, March 13 at 2:00 pm at Sun River Cemetery.
Kate was born on June 2, 1950 in Missoula, Montana, to Phillip and Jeanne Ryan.
Her love for horses and ranching started at a very young age on her grandparents (Ted and Ethel Westerland) ranch in the Little Belt Mountains near Stockett.
Kate and her brother, Mike, attended the one-room schoolhouse at Calvert.
With her mother’s marriage to Jack Fry, the family moved to Spokane, Washington, where she graduated from Shadle Park High School in 1968.
Kate spent summers back on the ranch and enjoyed riding her horse and competing at the O-Mok-Sees with the Great Falls Saddle Club.
Kate attended Eastern Washington University where she was a member of the women’s varsity volleyball, basketball, and tennis teams.
She graduated in 1972 with a degree in Physical Education.
She returned to Montana and worked at the Arios in Great Falls.
She met LeRoy Fadness of Boulder and they were married on horseback in 1974 at her grandfather’s place near Fairfield.
In 1975 their daughter RoyAnn was born.
While working on the Webb Ranch near Cascade, Kate began driving school bus and later drove for the Sun Valley River School District for 28 years.
In 1977 Kate and Leroy bought a ranch north of Simms.
In 1984 Kate’s marriage ended but she continued working the ranch, driving bus, and raising her daughter.
Hard work, determination, and a genuine love for the ranch life enabled Kate to keep the ranch and build a prize herd.
She sold the ranch in 2010, and took her horse and fishing pole to her favorite fishing spots!
Kate did it all: calving, branding, roping, riding, breaking horses, farming, haying, irrigating, along with driving bus.
She made it a point to always be available to lend a hand to a friend or neighbor.
In 2007 Kate was recognized as one of the Women in Ranching as part of the Sun River Valley Heritage Fair at Simms High School.
Kate was also honored by the Montana Cowgirls Association receiving the Heritage Award in 2010.
Survivors include daughter, RoyAnn (Jay) Wolfe of Whitehall; granddaughters, Kelsie and Brynna Wolfe; grandson, Clay Wolfe; mother, Jeanne (Elwood) Webb of Fairfield.
Kate was preceded in death by her brother, Mike Fry; stepson, Walt Fadness; birth father, Phillip Ryan; stepfather, Jack Fry; her grandfather and grandmother, Ted and Ethel Westerland.
CROXFORD FUNERAL HOME, Great Falls, MT.