Katherine Frost Bunch

Katherine Frost Bunch, 103, passed away peacefully on August 2, 2018, in her home surrounded by family, just eleven days after attending a family reunion in Flat Rock, NC. Katherine was born October 2, 1914 to Ernest Henry and Annie-Laurie Holton Frost in Mocksville, NC. In 1933, while at Davis Hospital Nursing School to become a registered nurse, she married Charles Ledbetter Bunch of Statesville, NC. Together they had eight children, Charles L. Jr., David Frost, Linda, Austin Whitfield, William Douglas, Benjamin Davis, Catherine Anne and Jane Lynn. She possessed an uncanny ability to manage her brood, and instilled basic life skills, a respect for nature, love of music and each other. She was renowned for her wit, left-handed compliments (“You look better than the last time I saw you”), and awareness of and opinions on current affairs. After raising and educating her children, she returned to nursing until retiring and beginning her new life of traveling, dancing and shopping with her companion and soul mate Jackie Pogue. Her later years were spent hosting family and friends in her apartment overlooking Lake Morton and downtown Lakeland across the rose garden. She was a faithful member of First United Methodist Church and her much loved Vanguard Sunday School Class and Circle 10. Katherine was predeceased by husband Charlie; sons Charles Jr. (Maxine), Benjamin (Krisztina) and William; and grandsons, John Bunch and Jerry Schutz. She is survived by daughters Linda Best, Brevard, NC, Anne Toopes (Jim), Gainesville, GA, Jane Atherton, Bellingham, WA; sons, David Bunch (Jean), Lakeland, Austin Bunch (Marion), Atlanta; 17 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. She was an avid reader of current events and historical novels and stayed current and actively involved up to her passing. A memorial service followed by a reception celebrating her remarkable life will be held at First United Methodist Church, 72 Lake Morton Drive in Lakeland on Saturday, August 11, 2018, at 11:00 a.m.