The death of Catherine Lucy Catani

It is one hundred years since Catherine Lucy Catani, the widow of Carlo, died on August 6, 1925. She died at their home, 39 Blessington Street, St Kilda of senile anaemia and myocarditis at the age of 68. Catherine had been seen by Doctor Morton, the day before and the duration of last illness was stated to be seven days. Dr Morton was, I believe, Reginald Lonsdale Morton of 14 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, who was also Carlo's doctor. (1)

As a matter of interest, when she was married on May 18, 1886, Catherine's age was listed as being 26, which if correct makes her year of birth as c. 1860. Her age at death means her birth year was c. 1857. Not the first time any genealogist has come across a discrepancy of this kind.  

Catherine was buried the next day at the Brighton General Cemetery, in the same grave as Carlo and Eugenie. (2)

There was a death notice in The Herald on the day of her death and the same notice appeared the next day in The Argus and The Age. (3)

Death notice of Catherine Catani

The Herald, August 6, 1925 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243620719

The Herald published the following short obituary the next day.

Short obituary of Catherine Catani

The Herald, August 7, 1925 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243624814

A week later, the Koo Wee Rup Sun published this obituary. You might have thought that given Carlo's long term connection to the drainage works on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, that the Koo Wee Rup Sun would know that he was the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, rather than the Chief Commissioner of the State River and Water Supply Commission. However, other than that, it was nice that her passing was recognised. 

Obituary of Catherine Catani

Koo Wee Rup Sun, August 13, 1925, p.4

We know very little about Catherine. Some wives of prominent men appeared in the social columns of the newspapers when they attended charitable or church functions, but I cannot find any references to Catherine in this regard, she seems to have been a very private person. She also had the grief of losing their first child Edward  when he was just one year old in 1887; the death of their middle daughter, Eugenie,  on August 1, 1915 at the age of 19; followed by the death of their middle son, Enrico,  who was Killed in Action in France on July 29, 1916 at the age of 25. Not to mention, of course, Carlo's death at the young age of 66 on July 20, 1918. 

Footnotes
(1) https://carlocatani.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-health-of-carlo.html

(2) Their son Ettore, was also buried in the grave after his death in 1967. .https://carlocatani.blogspot.com/2018/12/unveiling-of-catani-family-grave.html

(3) The Age, August 7, 1925, see here; The Argus, August 7, 1925, see here.