Obituary of Katherine Cadwallader

Katherine Poles Cadwallader passed away in her sleep unexpectedly on February 3, 2022. She was born at Mercer Hospital in Trenton, NJ and grew up in Lower Makefield and Yardley.

Katherine was one of the first women to be admitted to Georgetown University as an undergraduate. She earned a nursing degree from the University of Maryland School of Nursing and a Masters of Nursing degree from The Catholic University of America. Katherine worked for the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. and the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center. During her career she was a surgical intensive care nurse and earned a CCRN certification on her first test. 

After Katherine’s return to Yardley to live in the house where she grew up on Afton Avenue, she became head of the Yardley Recreation Board. Later she was elected to Borough Council where she served three terms, the last term as head of Borough Council. Katherine was active in the Yardley Historical Society and Friends of the Delaware Canal. She was immensely proud of the work she and other members of Borough Council did to rejuvenate the Yardley downtown business district by rewriting ordinances to allow the porches on the Continental Tavern and later Trattoria Rosa Bianca’s. The conversion of the old Yardley Bank building into the Vault Brewery was another success story. She worked on the North Main Street Side Walk Project. She continued the work to elevate buildings that flooded when the Delaware River rose above its banks and to improve the Borough’s response when floods did occur. Katherine was a driving force in arranging for grants and funding to establish FitzGerald Field as significant open space along the Delaware River. 

Katherine was married to Thomas Cadwallader who survives her. At her request, services will be private.