Well, let me tell ya ’bout this Catherine Reibert Mapother woman. I ain’t no scholar or nothin’, but I can piece together a story, ya know?
Catherine Reibert, that was her name before she got hitched. Born way back in 1912, May 21st to be exact, down in Louisville, Kentucky. Yep, Louisville, Kentucky. Heard it’s a big city now, but back then, who knows? Probably just a bunch of farms and dirt roads, like where I come from.
Her folks, William Reibert and Charlotta Louise Voelker, they had themselves a daughter, and that was Catherine. Don’t know much about them, but they musta been decent folk, raisin’ a girl like Catherine. I reckon life wasn’t easy back then, you know? No fancy cars or TVs, just hard work and family.
Then, this fella comes along, Thomas Cruise Mapother II. Sounds like a fancy name, don’t it? Well, he swept Catherine off her feet, I guess. They got hitched in 1934, over in Clark, Indiana. Why Indiana? Who knows! Maybe they eloped, maybe they just liked the scenery. Young folks do crazy things, always have, always will.
- Marriage: January 11, 1934, to Thomas Cruise Mapother II in Clark, Indiana.
- Children: Had herself four young’uns. Two sons for sure, one named Thomas Cruise Mapother III, and another William Reibert Mapother Sr. Don’t know ’bout the others, but four mouths to feed is a lot, lemme tell ya.
- Life in Kentucky: Seems like they settled down in Kentucky, Jefferson County, to be exact. Magisterial District 1, they say. Sounds important, but probably just a bunch of houses and fields, like I said.
Now, you might be wonderin’, why are we talkin’ ’bout this Catherine woman? Well, seems she’s got some famous kin. That Thomas Cruise Mapother III, he had a son, and that son, well, he changed his name to Tom Cruise. Yep, the movie star! Imagine that! Catherine’s grandson, a big shot in Hollywood. Who’d a thunk it?
Her other son, William Reibert Mapother Sr., he also got grandkids in the acting business. One of ’em is just named William Mapother, been in a bunch of movies with that Tom Cruise fella. It’s a small world, ain’t it? All them Mapothers, makin’ movies and whatnot.
Catherine, she lived a good long life, or so I hear. Passed away in 1993, April 26th, and they buried her in Calvary Cemetery, back in Louisville. Rest in peace, Catherine. You done good, raisin’ a family and all.
Family Ties and History: Folks are always diggin’ into family history, tryin’ to figure out where they come from. There’s tons of records about Catherine and her family, birth certificates, marriage licenses, all that legal stuff. People wanna know who their ancestors were, I guess. Me? I know my grandma and grandpa, that’s enough for me.
And this Catherine, she’s part of that history now. People are searchin’ for her on them internet things, lookin’ at family trees and whatnot. They wanna see how they’re connected to this woman, this grandma of a movie star. It’s kinda funny, ain’t it? How a regular woman from Kentucky becomes part of somethin’ bigger, just by livin’ her life and raisin’ her kids.
So, that’s the story of Catherine Reibert Mapother, as best as I can tell it. A Kentucky woman, a wife, a mother, a grandmother. Nothin’ fancy, just a life lived. And that’s somethin’ to be proud of, I reckon. We all leave our mark on this world, one way or another. Catherine, she left hers through her family, through them actors and all the folks who came after her. And that, my friends, is a story worth tellin’, even if it’s just told by an old woman like me.
Catherine Reibert Mapother’s Legacy: Even though she wasn’t famous herself, Catherine’s family made sure her name would be remembered. Her life story is intertwined with the success of her descendants. It goes to show you, family is important, and the people we raise can go on to do great things. And sometimes, those great things shine a light back on the folks who came before, the folks like Catherine who laid the foundation.
So, next time you see a Tom Cruise movie, or hear about the Mapother family, remember Catherine. She’s the root of that tree, the one who started it all, way back in Louisville, Kentucky. A simple woman, with a simple life, who ended up part of a much bigger story.
