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Katherine Greeley

October 19, 2019
Marquette, MI

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A life well lived was completed the morning of October 19, 2019, with the peaceful death of Katherine "Kay" Louise Purcell Greeley, 91, formerly of Boston and Kalamazoo, in Marquette, Michigan. The beloved daughter of Timothy Joseph Purcell and Catherine Louise Whitty, Kay was born September 10, 1928 in Boston. She was enrolled in first grade at age 4 by her parents, because she was "asking too many questions". Kay loved her childhood in the Irish neighborhoods of Dorchester and Quincy. At age 17, already a freshman at Regis College, she met the love of her life, Marine Corporal Roger Elting Greeley, when they both were summer clerks at the Boston gourmet food shop, S. S. Pierce. Rog enrolled the following January at Boston University, thanks to the GI bill. Their first date was on Kay's 18th birthday, a Boston Red Sox game, and they have been going steady ever since. Fenway would also be where she debuted her engagement ring. They married in 1949 and moved to a studio apartment at 320 Beacon Street. Kay's cute smile got her selected from the New York audience of the live television show, "Break the Bank", and her great brain earned her $500. Upon graduation from Regis at 19, Kay began her teaching career in Boston, while Rog finished his Masters. Rog was hired to teach high school history in Battle Creek, where their three children were born. Kay never met a person she didn't consider lovely or a child or dog she didn't love. The family moved to Kalamazoo in 1957 when Rog became minister at the People's Church and Kay, a minister's wife, which she embraced with her typical enthusiasm and friendliness, inspiring church dinners and parody productions of Broadway shows. In 1968, Kay completed her Masters in Education at Western Michigan University, in the teaching of remedial reading. Thus, began her love affair with teaching kindergarteners and fourth graders in the Kalamazoo Public Schools for more than 25 years. Her students received an excellent education, plus winter coats, boots, school supplies, and summer pool parties at the Greeley home on South Westnedge hill. Kay made time for Democratic candidates and the 1970s peace movement, joining the March on Washington in 1963, as well as anti Vietnam protests in NYC and Washington, D.C. and at her daughter's University of Michigan graduation where she held a "Jail to the Chief" sign during Vice President Gerald R. Ford's commencement address. Reading, sewing, calligraphy, needlepoint, crossword puzzles, thrift shops, baseball, brisk walking, riding the Atlantic beach waves, water aerobics, camping, sunsets, golf and winters in Florida were among her avid interests. World travel with Rog included cruises to Alaska and Scandinavia, touring England and Russia. She is survived by her husband of 70 years, Roger; children Bethany Knight, Timothy (Janet) Greeley, Will (Mary) Greeley, six grandchildren and five great grandchildren. She also leaves her sister Ann (William) Macdonald of Braintree, MA, 20 nieces and nephews and BFF Vicki and Clyde Winfield of Kalamazoo. The family will celebrate Kay with a memorial service next summer in Marquette, dedicating a bench overlooking Lake Superior. In lieu of flowers, friends are invited to donate to the local Alzheimer's Association chapter or the noble charity of their choice. Well done, Mom. We loved you living and we love you now. www.fassbenderswansonhansen.com