Katie Aldridge

Katherine A. (Casagrande) Aldridge, 50, of Danville passed peacefully with her family at her side on July 4, 2008 at University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago. Known to everyone as Katie, she was born August 11, 1957 in Washington DC daughter of Joseph B. and Mary (Deveney) Casagrande. Joseph became Chair of Anthropology at the U of I in 1960. Mary was born & raised in Scotland and met Joseph in London. They married on August 15, 1945, celebrated as the first peacetime wedding in Scotland. Her father preceded her in 1982 and her mother in 1967. Her father remarried Mabel Navarro and she survives in Quito, Ecuador. Katie married Morgan Aldridge in 1976, and he survives along with her brother Louis B. Casagrande of Jaffrey, NH; sister Laurie Casagrande of Minneapolis, MN; four step-brothers: Santiago, Fernando, Diego, and Adrian Navarro; brother-in-law Ronald Aldridge, and sister-in-law Mary Nelson; a very large extended family of cousins living all around the world; and her very special and best friends: Brenda Miller and Warren & Angie Nibbe. She was preceded in death by her parents, daughter Penny Lynn, and sister Mary L. Casagrande. Katie was a 76 graduate of Urbana High School and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Danville for a number of years. Katie lived in Ecuador and Spain for some time and loved to travel. She still traveled around the country with her husband, brother, and sister, despite having dialysis 3 times a weeks for the past 8 years of her life. She also loved horses and her dogs: Romeo, Chubbs, Midnight, and Scooter. The family deeply appreciates the loving care of Danville Dialysis. A Celebration of Katies life will be held at 11:00 am, Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at Sunset Funeral Home & Cremation Center 3940 N. Vermilion St. Danville, IL. Visitation will be held from 4-7 pm Tuesday evening at the funeral home. Following the service, she will be laid to rest at Roselawn/Mt. Hope Cemetery in Champaign. Memorials may be made to The First Baptist Church in Danville. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.sunsetfuneralhome.com