Catherine Norah Wearin

Catherine Norah Wearin, 72, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, died at her home on August 25, 2026 after a five-month struggle with cancer. She was born April 28, 1954 in Council Bluffs, to Edward Anderson and Helen (Cochran) Wearin of Red Oak, Iowa. Their new daughter was welcomed to their farm home by three other children, Elizabeth (Twink), Edward Anderson, Jr. (Andy), and Sarah. Horses and a pony in the pasture, and dogs, pigs, cattle, and neighbor kids kept them busy.

Catherine attended Red Oak Community Schools in Red Oak, Wales, and Coburg. She was a member of the Garfield-Go-Getters 4-H Club where she learned to sew. Her seamstress skills were refined with assistance from her mother and grandmother, Beatrice (Thomes) Cochran. She attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, then graduated from Sophie Newcomb College, a part of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, majoring in history. Later she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute, where she lived near the former home of her Thomes great-aunts in Kansas City, Missouri. She studied painting, woods, and furniture design and construction, learning to make beautiful furniture and decorative wooden objects

After graduation, Catherine moved to Jackson, Wyoming where she worked in an art gallery and continued to make furniture and lathe-turned bowls and candlesticks. She learned to frame art sold at the gallery, which fit nicely with her love of art and woodworking. One autumn, Catherine also worked for a hunting outfitter in the mountains near Jackson, packing in supplies on a mule train. After a few years, she moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming and opened a custom framing shop and earned picture framing certification from the Professional Picture Framers Association. While living in Cheyenne, Catherine lived with her brother, Andy, and often traveled with him when he participated in steer roping competitions.

Catherine subsequently moved to Colorado, where her picture framing expertise led her to work as a salesperson for a framing supply company, selling supplies to frame shops in Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. After several years, she began working in home remodeling, repair, and construction in the Denver area.

Catherine decorated her home with her own paintings and those of her friends, woodworking, and sewing. She made many of her own clothes, sewed exquisite quilts, and knitted beautiful sweaters. Catherine remodeled two homes with creative features that made them more livable and inviting. During her free time, she enjoyed the outdoors, gardening, reading, and riding horseback.

Catherine moved to Nebraska in 2004 and for many years worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a switch person in the Bailey Yard in North Platte. She then moved back to Wyoming and continued to work for the Union Pacific as a conductor on freight trains out of Cheyenne. After retirement, she moved to Hyannis, Nebraska. Following an accident in her home in 2023, she moved to Council Bluffs, to be near her family.

Catherine made many friends wherever she lived—New Orleans, Kansas City, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa. She recently celebrated nine years of sobriety with support of friends and family. She completed her life where she started—Council Bluffs.

Her sister-in law, Georgeann Wearin, described her as, “brazen, yet classy, eclectic, and smart. A wonderful seamstress and avid reader. She told it like it was and was unapologetically unique.” During her last weeks, her caregivers described her as “kind and polite.”

Catherine was preceded in death by her parents; her brother Andy; her brother-in-law Leo Smith; her niece Olive Salmon; and her Wearin and Cochran grandparents, aunts, uncles, and several cousins.

She is survived by her sisters, Elizabeth (Twink) Wearin and Sarah Smith of Red Oak, and sister-in-law, Georgeann Wearin of Hyannis. She was a loving aunt to her nieces and nephews: Abigail Salmon (Del Cobb) of Tacoma, Washington; Isabelle Salmon (Steve Wick) of Bellingham, Washington; Alex (Jennifer) Smith of Prairie Village, Kansas; Riley (Tracy) Smith of Guam; Elliot (Ashleigh) Smith of Shenandoah, Iowa; Tucker (Melissa) Sheets of Hyannis; Coy (Mikaela) Sheets of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming; and Trey (LaTasha) Sheets of Hyannis.

Catherine also loved her great-nieces and nephews, Eleanor, Millie, Seth, Lulu, Kai, Merida, Avery, Elsie, Lyle, and Teddy. She was close to her cousins: Joe Wearin (Karin Hofmann), Jane (Bill) Lieb, Priscilla Wagener, Mary Cochran (Robert) Wolk, Janet (Bill) Mitchell, John (Sun) Cochran, Bruce (Linda) Cochran, Bea Schomp, and Claudia Steele-Roos. Catherine was also grateful for her many friends.

An informal memorial open house, with refreshments, will be held for Catherine Wearin on Sunday, October 18 at The McAlpin Place, 109 East Washington Avenue, Red Oak, Iowa from 9:00 AM-12:00 noon. A brief remembrance ceremony will be held at 10:00. Relatives and friends may come and go at any time.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Sandhills Fire and Rescue, PO Box 330, Hyannis, NE 69350.

Catherine’s ashes will be interred in the Wearin family plot at the Malvern (Iowa) Cemetery next to her parents in a private family service.

LeRette Funeral Chapel, Red Oak, is handling arrangements for Catherine’s memorial service and burial.