Catherine L. Buliga was the eldest child of Grigorie and Anna (Pascar) Buliga, Romanian immigrants from Tereblecea in Bucovina (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today in the Chernivtsi Oblast in Ukraine). Born in Baudette, Beltrami (now Lake of the Woods) County in Minnesota, on 8 Aug. 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, she married a Romanian immigrant named Grigore Puscas. The 1940 U.S. Census says Catherine and Grigore had two daughters, Mary and Jane. After Grigore's death, Catherine remarried on 16 Sept. 1956 in Oakland County, Michigan, to John Phillips. She and John lived in Waterford, near Pontiac, Michigan.

Obituary from The Oakland Press, Pontiac, Mich.. 7 Sept. 2007:

PHILLIPS, CATHERINE (PUSCUS - sic: Puscas); of White Lake Twp.; September 5, 2007; age 96. Beloved wife of the late John Phillips and the late Grigore Puscus (sic); loving mother of Gregory Puscas and step-mother of Nancy (John) Laws, the late Mary Wadlington and the late George Phillips (Gwen); dear sister of Lena Lutz; grandmother of Joanna, Randy, Nancy and the late Mary Jo; aunt of Julie Baba, Brian Baba, Diane Klauka, Terissa Daly, Gregory Buliga and David Lutz; daughter of the late Grigori and Ana Buliga. Mrs. Phillips attended St. Perpetua Catholic Church and was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary at St. George Romanian Orthodox Church. She was a member of the Waterford Garden Club and volunteered at Meadowbrook Hall. Funeral Services will be Saturday, September 8, 2007, 10:30 a.m. at the Riverside Chapel, Simpson-Modetz Funeral Home, 5630 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Friday 2 to 8 p.m. Memorials may be made to St. Perpetua Catholic Church. Interment Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac.