Cateena Larue Harp

Cateena Larue Harp, age 81, passed away peacefully on November 17 in San Antonio.

Teena was born in 1942 in Cisco, Texas, the daughter of Stroud and Helen McMurry.

She was preceded in death by her parents and by her brother, Murry McMurry; she is survived by her sister Jude Mc-Murry, niece Dante Huff, and many cousins.

As a teenager, Teena had a close call with death in a car wreck that left her in a coma for weeks, but she ultimately made a complete recovery. She attended high school and business college in the Texas panhandle, then became the assistant of a traveling portrait photographer. That skill led her to Nevada, where she was a photographer in casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. She married a co-worker, Dale Hudson, and moved with him to Richmond, Virginia, where he became a state trooper. They eventually divorced but she remained in Virginia, living in a scenic cottage on Chesapeake Bay with her three cats while working as a secretary for the city government.

In the early 1970s she moved to Andrews to be closer to family, and she soon met and married William (Bill) Harp, mixing affection and family drama for years until his death in 2002.

In the mid-1980s, Teena was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which was treated successfully with medication for the rest of her life. She worked briefly in real estate and volunteered as a ‘Pink Lady’ in the Andrews County Hospital. For several years she was the main caregiver for her aging mother, who passed away in 2005.

Teena then embarked on some long-postponed vacation travel, including two cherished trips to the holy land in Israel and Egypt. In 2019, she moved to San Antonio to be closer to her sister’s family. A statuesque beauty, Teena stood nearly 6 feet tall and had the posture of a fashion model, but about twelve years ago she began losing strength in her legs, then required a wheelchair, and ultimately spent her last few years completely bedridden with severe arthritis. She never had children, but over the decades her many “fur babies” – cats, dogs, and even a pet raccoon – filled that space in her heart.

No funeral services are planned, but contributions to charity in her memory are welcome.