Catherine B. Litzenberger

Catherine Baker Litzenberger, known as Katie to all who loved her, was born in Baltimore, MD on January 23, 1936. She lived in a row house with her parents, Charles and Rose Baker and her five brothers and sisters, Ginny, David, Priscilla, Tim and Jonathan. When not helping her mother take care of her siblings, she enjoyed roller skating on the sidewalks and spending time with her friends. It was through those friendships that she met her future husband. She was the maid of honor in the wedding of her friend Virginia who was marrying a man from western Kansas named Charles. His best man, Orland Litzenberger (O.D.), became the love of Katie’s life and husband of 54 years. They met at their friends’ wedding, wrote letters, saw each other three times and were married 81 days later on January 1, 1955. Katie said they picked New Year’s Day as their wedding day so they could start the year right.

Because of that love and marriage, she moved from the city sidewalks of Baltimore to the wheat fields of western Kansas—what a contrast. She learned a lot about farm life including prepping chickens for the winter. She had previously only known that chickens came wrapped in white butcher paper. She and O.D. settled down in Dodge City, KS where they began their family. The three boys were born in Dodge City: David in 1957, Paul in 1960, and Richard in 1962. Diane was born in Kansas City in 1968. Throughout their course of their marriage and O.D.’s career with A.T.& T., she and O.D. had 18 houses in various cities from western Kansas to New Jersey to Kansas City.

Katie stayed home with her children until Diane was in third grade when she went to work for Valley View State Bank in Overland Park. She started as a bank teller and became the receptionist where she answered the phones and directed calls for nearly 30 years. She was a familiar and friendly voice to anyone who called the bank and stayed there until retiring in 2008.

She was devoted to her children, their spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her house was frequently the place where all kinds of kids gathered. She would happily set out food, even if it was only graham crackers with icing that she had just whipped up.

She was also devoted to her Lord and Savior as well as his church. She attended many churches and was a member at Overland Park Baptist when she died. Throughout the years, she had many friends there and created many memories with them. It is with the ladies of the church that she started one of her favorite hobbies—card making.

Katie left school in the eighth grade to help support her parents and siblings. Because of that, she always put a huge emphasis on her children’s education since she didn’t complete hers when she was younger. She later received her G.E.D. at Johnson County Community College in 1984.

After moving back from Virginia, Katie went to live in Assisted Living at Santa Marta. She was happy about living in a community because she always looked at it as her little mission field. One of the team members at Santa Marta said that she was always willing to share her love for Jesus. She would chat with team members and have prayer with them. She would tell anyone who would listen about O.D. and her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. After several health complications, she moved from Santa Marta to Villa St. Francis. Even with her health struggles, she continued to make new friends with the teams and talk about the things that were important to her. She was definitely a fan favorite at both communities and with her hospice team.

She died peacefully in her sleep the day before Easter on April 19, 2025. She celebrated the resurrection with her resurrected Lord, husband, O.D. and the family members who went before her including her father, mother, sister Ginny, sister-in-law Vera, brother-in-law Wayne, daughter-in-law Amy and stillborn son.

Katie is survived by her children David Litzenberger, Paul Litzenberger (Pam), Richard Litzenberger (Debbie) and Diane Macheers (Charlie) and her eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life for Katie Litzenberger will be held on April 28, 2025, at Overland Park Baptist at 11648 Antioch, Overland Park, KS 66210. Visitation is at 10:00 a.m. CDT and the Service is at 11:00 CDT.

The service will be streamed on YouTube at 11:00 a.m. CDT: https://www.youtube.com/@overlandparkbaptist2797

The family would like to thank the teams at Santa Marta, Villa St. Francis and Kansas City Hospice who took extraordinary care of Katie and loved her till the end as well as her friends who visited her and gave her hours of enjoyment.