By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DELHI TOWNSHIP - Sister of Charity Catherine Anne "Katy" Zeigler, an obstetrics nurse who was a supervisor at Good Samaritan Hospital from 1956 to 1964, died on Easter Sunday at Mother Margaret Hall nursing home. She was 88.

Sister Katy loved being a maternity nurse.

"The greatest gift of my nursing career was assisting mothers in the birth of their children and sharing with the families their joy and happiness - and sometimes their loss and grieving - in new life," Sister Katy said at the time of her 70th jubilee last year. "I was blessed."

She spent more than 40 of her 70 years as a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati in nursing - here and in Dayton, Ohio, and Colorado.

"Sister Catherine Anne was a caring person," said her friend Rosella Verdon of Colorado Springs, a Sisters of Charity lay associate. "It's no wonder that even now many women remember her as their OB nurse at the time of their children's birth. Her nursing skills, kindness and dry humor were her trademarks."

She was born Anne Mary Zeigler in Fremont, Ohio, in 1915 and grew up in Cleveland, where she played backyard baseball and high school basketball.

Family members expressed surprise when she decided to join the Sisters of Charity because "I was something of an imp," Sister Katy recalled in an oral history she gave to the Sisters of Charity in 1997.

She received a nursing certificate from the Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Dayton and a bachelor's degree in nursing from the College of Mount St. Joseph in Delhi Township.

She switched careers to become a medical photographer at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs in 1976. After moving to the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse in 1991, she worked as a photographer and videographer in the congregational communications office. Even after she retired last year, Sister Katy continued to videotape celebrations and workshops for the congregation.

Sister Katy never lost her love of sports. She was invariably the first person to dip into the outdoor pool at the Motherhouse every spring, according to Mary Kay Gilbert, communications director for the Sisters.

A talented silversmith, Sister Katy made rings that are cherished by many Sisters of Charity.

Survivors include her identical twin, Margaret Kehoe, and another sister, Loretta McFarland, both of Cleveland.

Visitation is 1:30-3 p.m. today in the Immaculate Conception Chapel at Mount St. Joseph Motherhouse, 5900 Delhi Road in Delhi Township, followed by Mass of Christian burial.

Memorials: Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Retirement Fund, 5900 Delhi Road, Mount St. Joseph, OH 45051.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com