Kathleen Anne Rathbun
Kathleen Anne (Lyons) Rathbun, 95, of Charlotte, passed away on February 5, 2025, after a short illness. She was born in rural Cornell, Illinois in 1929. Kathleen married Joseph L. Rathbun of Chenoa, Illinois in 1954, and over the years they lived in Streator, Illinois and Toledo, Ohio before finally moving to Charlotte in 1968.
Kathleen is survived by her sons, Joe, of Lansing; and Mike and Dan of Charlotte; her brothers, Owen and Harold Lyons of Pontiac, Illinois; her sister-in-law, Betty Winterland of Guthrie, Oklahoma; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Joe L.; her sister, Frances and brothers, Eugene and Louis; and her parents, Theresa and Edward Lyons.
Kathleen earned a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics from Illinois State Normal University and worked as a home economics teacher, for the Illinois state extension service as a youth advisor, and as a hospital dietician before starting her family. She was active in the St. Mary’s Altar Society, Charlotte Women’s Club, and for many years was an election official and delivered mobile meals with her “forever friend,” Bobbie Kane. Kathleen loved music, playing piano, organ, violin, and the trombone in the INSU marching band. She came from a musical family; her grandmother played harp at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and her mother was a music teacher and church organist. When her mother passed away the day before Mother’s Day in 1945, Kathleen was asked to take over as the church organist. When she played the Requiem Mass and sang, in Latin, she was given a stipend of $1. Kathleen also loved cooking, sewing, gardening, reading, walking in Bennett Park with Joe L., watching the backyard bird feeders, and most of all her family, which she often called her “greatest accomplishment.”
Friends are encouraged to support Kathleen’s family by attending services or sharing memories on her Tribute Page at www.prayfuneral.com. Visitation will be at Pray Funeral Home on Sunday, February 9 from 4 to 6 p.m. followed by a recitation of the rosary. A second visitation will be held at St. Mary Church in Charlotte on Monday, February 10 from 10 to 11 a.m., followed by a funeral mass at 11:00 a.m. with Rev. Fr. Mark Martin officiating. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be given to St. Mary school or the St. Mary-St. Ann parish. The family is in the care of Pray Funeral Home.