NEWELL, Kathleen 82, passed away Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, at Aston Gardens Assisted Living Facility in Tampa. Kathleen was born in New York. Two years later, her parents returned with their children to their homeland of Ireland. Kathleen grew up on a Waterford Farm with four brothers, a sister, and countless cows and chickens. At the age of 17, Kathleen bravely moved out on her own from family farm life to the giant metropolis of New York where she had been born. She admits to having been scared at first, but after a year, she loved the big city, all the independence it offered her, and never even considered going back to the old country. Kathleen was a very successful administrative assistant with various companies including Celanese and Scholastic Books. She retired from Scholastic in 1996. She was so missed there that they needed to hire two people to replace her as no one person could match her productivity. Upon her retirement, Kathleen and her husband moved to Tampa where they enjoyed line dancing and doing exercises at the YMCA. In her retirement years, her biggest passion was playing with her grandchildren. She had a very close bond with her grandson Kristofer who suffers from autism. She was also a devout Catholic who regularly attended service at Incarnation. Kathleen is survived by her husband of 46 years, Pete; her son Pete; her daughter-in-law Luisa, and her two grandchildren who all live in Tampa. Kathleen lives on very much through her granddaughter who shares not only the same name, but also has very similar looks and expressions. During her final year with declined health, Kathleen received excellent care at Aston Gardens from a very caring staff. Graveside services will be held at Calvary Catholic Cemetery on Thursday, Jan. 19th at 11:30 am. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to "Autism Speaks".


Published in the Tampa Bay Times on January 19, 2012