Keane, Catherine A. (“Kay”) (née Johnson), 100, of Minneapolis, died peacefully at home on February 13, 2021, surrounded by her four children, her books and a century of memories. She prevailed against time and age, but suddenly declined in the hours before her death. Kay celebrated her 100th birthday last October, shared distantly and remotely from her back yard, by friends, family across the country, neighbors, parishioners, and former students. Born in Stillwater, MN, on October 5, 1920, to Mabel Catherine McGee of Stillwater, MN, and Alfred E. Johnson of Hayward, Wisconsin, she grew up on the Iron Range, in her beloved Virginia, MN. After graduating from Roosevelt High School in 1938, she attended Virginia Junior College, and then Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, graduating with a degree in English in 1942. Upon graduation, she joined the United States Navy as an officer, serving as an Ensign in the Navy Department in Washington, D.C., translating codes relayed from the Pacific and Atlantic fleets, as a communications officer for the Chief of Naval Operations. After the War, she earned an M.A. and completed the coursework for a Ph. D. in English at the University of Minnesota, where she met her husband of 65 years, James M. Keane (d. 2014) of Minneapolis. They were married at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Stillwater in 1949. Kay taught English at Edison High School in Northeast Minneapolis, at Gogebic Junior College in Ironwood, Michigan, at the University of Minnesota in the 1950s and 1960s (except for years raising young children) and later, for 17 years at Regina High School in South Minneapolis from 1969 until 1986. A proud Iron Ranger, she cast her first vote for FDR, and ever since kept the faith. A devout Catholic, and fervent believer in social justice, she was a member of Incarnation Parish since 1955, and the Saint Thomas Academy community since 1949. But it was as a devoted daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, friend and teacher that she touched so many through habitual grace, kindness, and empathy. Kay loved travelling to friends and family near and far, for baptisms, communions, graduations, and weddings, and took care to host holidays at her South Minneapolis home where she lived for almost 66 years. In addition to her husband Jim, she is predeceased by brother, Dr. Edward A. Johnson, and sister Mary Agnes (Bill) Oswald, and dear friends Anne and Bill Munro; she is survived by daughters Elizabeth (David) Bedor, Moira (Thomas Romens) and Catherine, all of St. Paul, and son Michael (Maria) of New York City; grandchildren Catherine Dougherty (William), of Madison WI, Anne Romens (Christopher Hill) of Minneapolis, Jeremy and Gabriel Keane of New York; great grandchildren, Emma and Liam Dougherty and James and Bernadette Hill; sister-in-law Shirley Johnson; 30 nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren. A gentle but strong soul, Kay gave her all to her family, friends, students and country. Memorials preferred to Incarnation Parish, Saint Thomas Academy, Open Arms of Minnesota, or a local food shelf. A Memorial Mass at Incarnation Church, 3801 Pleasant Ave. So., Minneapolis, is deferred until summer, given the pandemic; a private interment will take place at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.
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