Catherine Burns Choate

Some lives take root quietly, growing over time and leaving things better than they found them. Catherine Burns Choate lived such a life. A lifelong resident of Columbia, Tennessee, she passed away Friday, August 21, 2026, at Maury Regional Medical Center. She was 96. Born November 23, 1929, to John Bernard “J.B.” Burns Sr. and Rebecca Mae Eskew Burns, Catherine belonged to Maury County in the way familiar trees belong to the land, rooted deeply.

On November 10, 1946, she married Mack Boyd Choate. Together they built more than a home and cattle farm. They built a world shaped by devotion, honest work, and the quiet understanding that the finest things in life are rarely the grandest. They are the ordinary things: the land tended together, the day’s work shared, the comforting knowledge that someone you love is waiting at home. Catherine took immense pride in the life she and Mack created, and though he preceded her in death on June 9, 1987, the love they shared remained woven through the rest of her days. For most of her life, Catherine was intricately connected to Maury County’s farming and cattle community. She served on the Maury County Farm Bureau Board of Directors for many years, worked at the Southern Livestock Sale Barn, and dedicated herself to agricultural service as an enumerator for the United States Department of Agriculture. She understood that farming was never simply an occupation, it was a way of life and a way to preserve the land. Catherine’s interests were as varied and enduring as the life she led. She and Mack always looked forward to hosting an annual 4th of July family reunion that is still a fond memory for those that attended. She enjoyed competing on a women’s bowling team, taught a chair re-caning class at Columbia State and found deep satisfaction in the patient work of making old things useful and beautiful again. Her love of genealogy led her to spend countless hours gathering family history, preserving names, stories, and connections that might otherwise have slipped away. She understood that remembering where we came from is one of the ways we care for those who come after us.

She is survived by her sisters, Jean Crowe, Margaret Billington, and Linda Brown; her sister-in-law, Marjorie Burns; and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and cousins who will carry her memory forward. In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, John B. (Elease) Burns Jr., Robert H. Burns, William Burns, and James E. (Ludie) Burns Sr.; her sisters, Marie Burns (John R.) Cox and Dorothy Elizabeth (George L.) Parsley; and her brothers-in-law, Billy Crowe, Ruben Billington, and Vernon Brown.

In accordance with Catherine’s wishes, a graveside service will be held Friday, August 28, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. at Jones Cemetery. The family will receive friends that morning from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. Family and friends will serve as pallbearers. Online condolences may be shared at www.oakesandnichols.com.

Catherine's life was rooted in love, for her husband, her family, her community, and the land she called home. And like all deeply rooted things, what she gave this world will remain long after the season has changed.