Catarina 'Cat' Mendoza, 70

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:07:26 +0000

Catarina Mendoza arrived in Bozeman in 1992 for a nursing job at the hospital and stayed for the mountains, which she insisted were “just like Jalisco, only colder.” She worked the night shift at Deaconess for thirty-two years and knew every back road between here and Livingston before the four-lane went in.

She bought her house on Durston in 1996 for what her daughter Isabel calls “a reasonable number” and what the current Zillow estimate calls “a down payment in Bozeman proper.” Catarina refused to sell when the first developer knocked, and she refused when the second developer knocked, and she refused when the third developer brought cookies. The house still has the original siding. The neighborhood now has three breweries and a meditation studio.

Durston on The Bozeman Daily Bee

Catarina 'Cat' Mendoza, 70