Kathleen E. Watzka

Friends will be received at the funeral home on Thursday April 4th  from 4-7 PM.

A funeral procession will form at the funeral home Friday at 10AM.  A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Saint Joseph's Church 11AM. A livestream of Kay's mass may be viewed here

Burial in St. Mary's Cemetery.

Kathleen "Kay" Watzka, 90, passed away peacefully on March 29, 2024. Kathleen was born on April 9, 1933 in Kingston, NY, a daughter of the late Thomas and Dorothy (Hackett) Joyce.

Kathleen graduated from Kingston High School and started her lifelong dream career as a nurse. She graduated from the diploma program at Benedictine Hospital. She worked as an operating room nurse and O.R. Supervisor at Benedictine for many years. She was active in AORN (Association of Operating Room Nurses). She loved her career caring for patients and working with other nurses and doctors. Always wanting to improve herself, she received her BSN in Nursing from SUNY New Paltz.

She met her husband, Francis, while ice skating on a pond on Route 28 with her best friend Alicia. They lovingly raised two children during their 55 year marriage. Kathleen prioritized her faith in God and had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She visited Medjugorje, Croata several times, coming home each time with a deeper faith. She was a lifelong parishioner at St. Joseph's Church in Kingston where she went to elementary school and celebrated Mass weekly.

Kathleen loved baking. She was especially known for her fabulous chocolate chip cookies. She baked these cookies for many community occasions  such as the YMCA, where she was a board member, during their Reindeer Ramble. Kathleen also enjoyed baking fancy cakes for family and friends. If you requested a special type of cake, she did everything in her power to make it exactly right.

Kathleen will be remembered for always putting others first. She loved helping people any time or any place. She was a "nurse's nurse" and she assisted many women who sought nursing as a career. She was unfailingly kind and caring.

She is survived by her children Mary Ellen Chardavoyne and her husband, Alan, Thomas Watzka and his wife Charlene. Grandchildren; Paige Chardavoyne and her husband Richard Essig, Justin Chardavoyne, Patrick Watzka and Dylan Watzka.

In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her husband Francis L. Watzka in 2015.

Expressions of sympathy in lieu of flowers may be made in the form of contributions to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital- 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105.