Catherine Louise “Cathy” Ghormley Taylor May 17, 1951 – June 24, 2026 Catherine Louise “Cathy” Ghormley Taylor died of cancer on June 24, 2026, at her home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her children, Andy and Molly, beside her, holding her hands. She was 75.
Cathy was born on May 17, 1951, in Riverside, California, to Barbara “Birdie” Ghormley (née Porter) and David MacLean Ghormley. She was the middle of three children, between her older brother, William Alfred (“Bill”) Ghormley, and her younger brother, James Porter (“Jim”) Ghormley.
Her family moved often during her childhood. When Cathy was two, they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, while her father attended Harvard Business School, eventually returning to California, where the family lived in Hancock Park and later Fallbrook and the Pacific Palisades. Her years in Fallbrook gave her a lifelong love of horses, dogs, ranches, open spaces and the natural beauty of California. She later attended Palisades High School, where, despite arriving as a new student during her junior year, she made many friends and was elected to student council.
Cathy went on to attend the University of Arizona, where she joined Kappa Alpha Theta and made friendships that would last the rest of her life. Among them was Ann “Ackie” Ghormley, one of Cathy’s beloved Theta sisters, who later became her sister-in-law when Cathy introduced her to her brother Bill. Cathy graduated with a degree in education in 1973.
After college, Cathy moved to Newport Beach and began a career that eventually took her through sales, marketing, executive recruiting and career counseling. She spent years in sales with Burroughs Corporation and Automatic Data Processing, later served as Director of Marketing at Shepherd Associates, worked in executive recruiting, and eventually built her own practice, Cathy Taylor Executive Search.
Her work suited her because Cathy was endlessly interested in people. She loved asking questions and hearing someone’s story. She wanted to know what excited them, what they were good at, and what they hoped to do next.
It was also through work that Cathy met Douglas Lee Taylor. They fell in love, married, and had two children, Andy and Molly, whom they raised in Pasadena, California. Doug died on September 29, 2003, leaving Cathy to raise two teenagers on her own (but always with the support of her family and friends). Cathy was the steady center of the home, nourishing her children with love, stability, humor, encouragement, and the certainty that she was always in their corner. She made sure Andy and Molly grew up surrounded by family, traveling with them to Oregon to spend time with her parents and to Texas to be with Doug’s family, who were a critical part of their childhood. Cathy’s extensive network of friends also became Andy and Molly’s “aunts” and “uncles.”
One especially meaningful chapter of Cathy’s life came through her work as personal assistant and companion to Eunice Erb Goodan, who had known Cathy’s mother, Birdie. Cathy and Eunice developed a close relationship, and their years together brought Cathy some of the great adventures of her life.
Their years together took Cathy to France, Scotland, Africa, Canada and Maine, along the California coast and to the ranch. Cathy loved travel, and those years gave her experiences and memories she treasured for the rest of her life. Later in her career, Cathy’s work increasingly reflected her deep belief in education, service and community. A lifelong Presbyterian, she had also felt drawn to Catholicism for many years. Her life seemed to keep bringing her into the Catholic fold—through her work supporting Catholic education, her relationship with Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and later her work with the Smet Foundation. She found real solace in Catholic traditions and in the Church’s work with children and communities. Her commitment to serving others also extended into her own community, where she volunteered with Open Arms of Minnesota, which provides meals to people living with serious illnesses.
Cathy loved people, and people loved Cathy. She could make a friend almost anywhere with anyone. She was hilarious, grounded, curious and quick to laugh, and she had a way of putting people immediately at ease.
Her friendships ran deep. Many of her closest friends became “sisters”—or, as Cathy called them, “fristers”—and people she met in one chapter of her life were still there decades later. Cathy was also the person people called when they needed advice. She listened. She asked questions. She told the truth. And somehow, even when she told you something you hadn’t particularly wanted to hear, you came away feeling loved, supported and a little steadier about what to do next.
Once Cathy cared about something or someone, she showed up fully. She was deeply grounded in what she believed mattered: family, friendship, honesty, faith, treating people well and being there for the people you love. Growing up, Molly and Andy heard the same lessons again and again: “What’s the Golden Rule?” “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” “The truth will set you free.” And during tough times, she always reminded them that “This too shall pass.”
She loved bridge and card games, Dodgers baseball, dogs, horses, and the Beatles (especially Paul McCartney). She saw the Beatles play at the Hollywood Bowl when she was young, a memory she carried with her for the rest of her life.
In 2020, Cathy left Pasadena, California, and moved to Minneapolis to begin a new chapter and, most importantly, to be closer to her grandchildren.
Nothing gave Cathy more joy than her family. She was incredibly proud of Molly and Andy, and becoming “Cakki” to her three granddaughters—Corinne, Berit (“Birdie”) and Davina—was one of the great joys of her life. Being near them was a central part of the life she built in Minnesota.
During the final year of her life, as she lived with cancer, Cathy’s long connection to Catholicism became something deeply personal, and she made the decision to become Catholic. That year also brought her another experience she treasured. Decades after seeing the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, she got to see Paul McCartney perform with Molly. And her Dodgers won the World Series!
The size of Cathy’s world became especially clear near the end of her life, when more than 120 people traveled from around the country to Minnesota in the middle of winter for Cathy’s “Last Hurrah,” a celebration of her life—or a “FUN-eral,” as Cathy liked to call it—while she was still able to enjoy it. And enjoy it she did. Cathy had the night of her life, letting people spin her around the dance floor in her walker to her granddaughters’ favorite song, “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, and even doing Fireball shots with her priest. She stood before the people she loved and toasted them—one by one. They had come from different eras of her life and different corners of the country because Cathy had stayed part of their lives. It was completely Cathy: surrounded by friends and family, telling stories, laughing, connecting people and making sure everyone knew how much they meant to her.
Cathy is survived by her daughter, Molly Wilson, and her husband, Gian Franco Wilson; her son, Andy Taylor, and his wife, Elizabeth Frosch Taylor; her beloved granddaughters, Corinne, Birdie and Davina; and her brothers, Bill Ghormley and Jim Ghormley. She was preceded in death by her husband, Douglas Lee Taylor; her parents, Barbara “Birdie” and David MacLean Ghormley; and her beloved sister-in-law and lifelong friend, Ann “Ackie” Ghormley.
Cathy leaves behind a family and an enormous circle of friends who loved her deeply. She will be remembered for her infectious laugh, her stories, her loyalty, her advice and the way she made people feel seen and cared for. She made family wherever she went, and the people she loved will carry her with them for the rest of their lives.
