Karen M. Kwiatkowski

Family and friends will truly and forever feel great loss in the passing of Tamarac, FL resident Karen Marie Kwiatkowski on September 9th, 2022. Karen was born in Binghamton, NY on April 24th, 1947 and is survived by her son Sheldon Kwiatkowski, daughter and spouse Cynthia and David Melanson, two brothers and spouses Thomas and Patricia Jeavons, Brian and Susan Jeavons, and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Karen lived through the passing of her parents David and Jean Jeavons, her niece Nicole Jeavons, Karen's former spouse Edward Kwiatkowski, her daughter-in-law Shari Kwiatkowski and numerous other family members and friends along the way. In her early years Karen, the oldest of three children, eagerly contributed to the household responsibilities and developed her ever enduring values of responsibility, loyalty and family before all else. Shortly after graduating Johnson City High School in 1966, she married and raised two children with Edward while moving frequently between multiple states. After a move to Maryland in 1978, she continued raising her children while working in the aerospace industry and attending night classes at the University of Maryland to attain a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree. In 1997 Karen took a work transfer to northern California where she made many new lifelong friends and worked until retiring in 2014. Upon retirement, she sold her house and confidently set out on a solo, cross country road trip ending in South Florida to live near her son and daughter-in-law. Most loved ones in Karen's life will remember things like the satisfaction she experienced when skillfully cooking and baking meals for their gatherings or her wry sense of humor frequently displayed during just about any situation from driving lessons and vacation outings with the nieces, to teaching her grandniece that the mid-afternoon meal is called "linner". Above all else, Karen will be remembered for the kindness, love and energy she contributed and the great joy she received while spending quality time together with family and friends. The loved ones in Karen's life will surely continue to garner comfort from the memory of this dedicated daughter, sister, mother, aunt, cousin and friend.
The visitation will start at 9:30 with the Mass at 10:30 on April 21st, 2023 at St. James Catholic Church, 147 Main Street Johnson City, NY 13790 followed by a procession to Riverhurst Cemetery, 2500 East Main Street, Endicott, NY 13760 for a graveside blessing and interment. Local arrangements by Bednarsky Funeral Home, Inc.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the American Cancer Society.

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