On the 27th May 2025 we said our final goodbye to our friend and colleague Diana ‘Katrina’ Rowe. She had a service at the crematorium in Llanelli, followed by her wake in the New Cornish Arms near where she lived.
The following, written by Keith Evans-Hurley, was read out at the service, as we remembered Katrina for the good times that she gave us:
I first met Katrina over a decade ago when she came to volunteer with CETMA. Upon her arrival she said how she fell over on the road on her way in. I asked if she was ok and comedically she responded that she was fine, but her brother would have asked if the floor was ok instead.
One morning she came into the office quite cheerful and asked how I was. I said that I was tired since I stayed up all night to watch WrestleMania. Katrina lit up and with a lot of passion asked, ‘who won, Triple H or Sting?’. I was not expecting Katrina to be a wrestling fan. In fact, she stayed up to date with wrestling around the world, specifically Japan, Mexico, UK and America. It was from then our bond grew, and I would even take her to see live wrestling in Cardiff and Swansea. We also stayed up together to watch a number of future Wrestle manias and watched it in the office using the projector.
Around the office, she was given a wrestling name of ‘The Laminator’ since she became the volunteer admin manager, and we joked that her finishing move would be a big splash from the top rope.
This was the start of the office banter that created the daily saying of ‘I’m going to hit you in a minute’ and she made sure that everyone knew about it. In fact, when new people joined CETMA since then they would tell me that Katrina wants to hit me after meeting her. It wasn’t in an upset or menacing way and was her way of getting her own back.
The silly banter evolved over the years with claims from the fake fact that Katrina had a jetpack and went to space to that she could sing opera.
The thing is though; Katrina really could sing. I caught her singing along to the radio or when at events, when she thought the music was louder than her, she belted out the songs. Her favourite being anything by Queen.
For someone so loud and vocal she really didn’t like to be the centre of attention or in the spotlight. She would deny that she could sing to anyone and frequently dismissed claims that she was singing, then move the conversation to something about someone else.
She hated that we wanted to celebrate her birthday and frequently said that we would fall out if we did, but when she turned 60, we gave her no choice but to celebrate with a meal in the hungry horse.
She claimed several times that night that she almost didn’t come, but she thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I stole one of the balloons from the table for her and wrapped it around her wrist to walk home with that evening. She would tell me for at least 6 months after that with surprise in her voice, that it was still flying a little and not all the helium had gone from it.
Katrina wasn’t a fan of Christmas but was haunted by the Christmas music that I would play around the office from around February, although I’m pretty sure that she was secretly enjoying it. She loved anything silly and liked to secretly have a good time despite trying to be serious.
Katrina loved family, and would often talk about her grandmother, her late twin brother and in her words ‘The other brother’. She would often refuse a lift home and said that if she wanted a lift, she would call her brother and stated ‘that’s what brothers are for’ but at the same time, she would never call her brother for one.
She would talk about growing up and learning respect and politeness, which she put into practice daily. If she considered you a friend then everything was so much less formal, although when she saw you in the morning the first thing she would ask is how you are.
If she spoke to someone on the phone or a customer walked in, she would address them as Mr or MRS so and so, never the first name. and she refused to ever say a swear word. She always said that if she swears, her brother will hit her.
We all questioned that if this was true, how would he know and we all tried to get her to say just the slightest naughty word, but she won that game every time. The closest I got was asking her to phone a ‘Mrs Tess Tickle’, once she said it, she swore not to do phone calls for me again. She did eventually see the funny side of the joke.
Katrina loved burry port. She often reminded people that she was a burry port girl and even had the background of her computer a picture of her grandmother’s house in Burry Port. Every time she would travel through the area, she would be amazed at how the place has changed over the years.
Recently since moving to our latest Llanelli office, Katrinas health deteriorated, and despite trying to keep things normal, it was clear that she was in pain and was struggling, but she wouldn’t say anything to anyone.
She was very headstrong and determined to be independent. She refused to ask for a more comfortable chair and even refused to use one until I took hers away and replaced it, to which she just said with a sigh of relief ‘thank you’. She really hated asking or receiving help, but she really did appreciate it when it was given.
The bubbly person we knew became a lot grumpier and shorter with people as she was trying to hide the pain that she was in, but in the last few weeks she became a different person and was more like the old Katrina that we knew. She greeted everyone with a smile that came through the door and asked everyone how they were with enthusiasm.
Just days before she passed away, I visited her to give an easter hamper and the first thing she said was that she was sorry that she had not posted stuff online for us. I told her not to be silly and not to worry about it. She was thinking about her volunteer work even then.
Katrina was the longest tenured volunteer with CETMA and was 100% dedicated right to the end. We have all been talking about her, and sharing our stories since her passing with the knowledge that she may be gone but her memory will always remain. She was not just a volunteer, or a colleague. She was a very good friend to all us, and will be sadly missed.