GAINSVILLE: Catherine von Lehe Eppes, died peacefully in her sleep January 25, 2017 after a long illness, at the home of her son Michael von Lehe in Gainesville FL. She was 86.

Catherine was born on January 6, 1931 in Toronto Ontario to the late Beverly Winfield Eck and Isabel Stewart Rosevear. She attended school there before becoming an elementary school teacher in North York in the early 1950s. She married Dr. August Charles von Lehe in 1956, and moved to his hometown of Walterboro where she lived for several years before moving to LaGrange, Georgia. While living in LaGrange, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, June 3, 1972 with Summa Cum Laude honors. After a few years, she moved to Gainesville, FL, her home for the rest of her life. While living in Gainesville she graduated from the University of Florida with a Master of Education on December 11, 1976. She worked for, and retired from, the Alachua County School Board as the Curriculum Resource Teacher at Metcalfe Elementary School. She was also a member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, where she did volunteer work.

She is preceded in death by husband Dr. August Charles von Lehe, her son Dr. John Andrew von Lehe, and husband Bill Gorton Eppes. Catherine is survived by her sister, Patricia Eck Wilson, sons Michael, Charles, and Quinlan von Lehe, and by grandchildren Michael, Alicia, Christopher, Charlie, Kinsey, Reagin, Rebecca and Laura.


Graveside funeral services will be held Saturday, February 4, 2017 at 11:00 AM at the Live Oak Cemetery in Walterboro. The family will receive friends during a time of visitation that morning from 9:30-10:30 in the chapel of Parker-Rhoden Funeral Home.