Mary Louise Kattenburg

COLUMBIA - Mary Louise Clark Kattenburg, 94, who lived the life of a diplomat’s wife following World War II, who was known for her entertaining and graciousness, died August 11, 2015 in Columbia following a short illness. Mrs. Kattenburg was born in Escanaba, Michigan and raised on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She was a 1943 graduate of Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisconsin) and after college, taught in the District of Columbia Schools. In 1945 she married Paul M. Kattenburg (deceased) who became a Foreign Service officer. As a diplomat’s spouse, she and her husband and five children served at posts in Manila, Philippine Islands, Frankfurt, Germany and Guyana, South America. After Mr. Kattenburg’s retirement from the U. S. Foreign Service in 1972, Mary and her husband moved to Columbia, South Carolina where he became a professor in the Political Science and International Relations Department of the University of South Carolina in 1974. Mrs. Kattenburg also spent sabbaticals with her husband in Phoenix, Arizona, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Canberra, Australia and Lake Cuomo, Italy as well as four “Semester at Sea” programs, travelling around the world by ship while Mr. Kattenburg taught classes on board ship. For over twenty years Mary Kattenburg served as a volunteer at her local precinct on Election Day. Mary’s husband died in 2004 in the 59th year of their marriage. She is survived by her five adult children Philip “Clark” Kattenburg of Oakton, Virginia, John F. Kattenburg of Columbia, SC, Richard P. Kattenburg or Martinez, CA, Jeanne Kattenburg Carlton of Lexington, SC, Charles W. Kattenburg of Columbia, SC, their spouses, ten grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Please sign the online guestbook at www.dunbarfunerals.com.