Cathy J (Oliver) Place

Cathy Place, 71, died at home in Toledo on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. She’s now reunited with her husband of 51 years and their sons Danny and Gerry Jr. in heaven.

Heaven has a new angel !

She is survived by her daughter Kim Sizemore (Tom). She also leaves behind 5 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren to carry on her legacy. Her parents were Bill and Mary Oliver (Leonhardt). She is also survived by sisters Margo Haar, Carol Mather (Bart), Diane Deveraux (Bruce), and Chris Oliver as well as many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

She gave birth to 3 children but the truth was that she was a mom to every child she met: Pee Wee baseball players on the team that Gerry Sr. coached, neighbors, and many nieces and nephews. She gave them all unconditional love, words of wisdom, and great hugs. She was easy-going, usually smiling and laughed easily. She was kind, sincere, generous, creative, well organized, and volunteered her time and talents freely to everyone in need.

She loved to stay busy and made greeting cards better than Hallmark, crocheted afghans and gave them as gifts to countless family and friends, designed and created Christmas ornaments and full size Santa decorations.  She also spent many hours researching multiple family lineages on Ancestry.com and verified information back to the 9th great grandparents dating to the year 1627 in England.

When her husband Gerry coached Pee Wee Baseball for Marshall School from 1978-1990 she was like a second mother to the kids on his teams, they all loved her! Her son Gerry Jr. was a player and Danny was the bat boy. When Danny got sick at age 9 from the genetic disease ALD, Cathy and Gerry cared for him in their home while he was in a coma for more than 2 years. Cathy’s compassion, kindness, and generosity were always at play in her life. She always reached out to help neighbors and friends when they needed assistance.

Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 at St. Patrick’s of Heatherdowns.  Visitation will begin at 10am in the Narthex, Mass starts at 11am, and a Luncheon will follow the mass for family and friends. Interment will be family only at a later date.

The family would like to thank Diane Friess for her many years of friendship and also the help that she provided during the cancer treatment that both Cathy and Gerry endured. They also thank Ohio Living for their compassionate hospice support during this difficult time over the past 2 years.

To leave a message to the family please visit the Facebook page for American Cremation Events.  Any tributes to Cathy’s memory can be made to the United Leukodystrophy Foundation which does research on ALD which has effected Cathy, her father, her sons and her sisters. This disease has been devastating to the family: it’s a rare, neuro-degenerative disease with no treatment and no cure.

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