Obituary of Cathy Lynn Hartnett Steele

Cathy Lynn Hartnett Steele passed away July 27, 2024. 

Memorial Service: 2:00 p.m. Saturday, August 10, 2024 at Fairpark Baptist Church, 6000 Crowley Road, Fort Worth.

Cathy was born in Rock Island, Illinois, on August 24, 1952, the only child of Guy and Judy Hartnett. The family moved to southern California while Cathy was a toddler, and she lived there until going to Idaho State University (ISU) in 1970. From the age of four, Cathy spent every summer with her grandparents, and during the summer of 1970, before leaving for ISU, she met the love of her life, Mike Steele. Exactly two years after they met, they were married on July 14, 1972, at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX. After completing their Bachelor’s Degrees, they bought a home in west Fort Worth and began their family. Early on, they were making some unconventional choices, which included home birth, home school, home church, and home business, and they are grateful that family supported them, even when they didn’t understand. Those wonderful years saw God bless them with six precious children, with the family now being affectionately referred to as the “Steele Eight”: Mike, Cathy, Joshua, Jennifer, Jessica, Jonathan, Jeremy, and Josiah. And yes, the kids are all three-syllable “J” names! What began as eight has thus far grown to 32:

Joshua and Kelsie Steele, Abigail, Rebekah, Hosanna, Kathryn, David, Mia.

Jennifer and Matthew Carroll, AnnaSophia, John, Ella, William

Jessica and Mark Driggers, Aksil, Avery, Novak, Olivia, Viktor

Jonathan and Lissette Steele, Caleb, Jack, Emilia Joy

Jeremy Steele

Josiah and Kenna Steele, baby girl due October, 2024

Cathy enjoyed various home businesses to provide for extras like music lessons and vacations. Her favorites were baking/selling whole wheat bread, raising ostriches, and managing rental properties. Her hobbies included sewing and gardening.

In 1996, God blessed the family with a piece of property in Parker County. It has a live creek that courses across the back pasture, and we call the property Steele Creek. For Cathy, especially, having a place for family roots over decades has brought so much joy.

Cathy was raised believing she was a Christian because she was basically a decent person and was born in America. She believed in God and His Son, Jesus, intellectually, as historical fact. But God made no mistake when He directed her to ISU, because there, as an eighteen year old, she learned the difference between knowing *about* Jesus, and knowing Him in a personal relationship. On January 23, 1971, she put her full faith and trust in Jesus Christ to forgive her sins and make her His child. From that moment forward, life was new! Her greatest joy has been to share Jesus, feeble though her efforts have been. God has also blessed her immensely through years of joining with precious women… Prayer Warriors… and seeing God answer prayers that seem impossible. To God be the glory!