Kathleen Susan Warren, age 58 of Wayne, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 9, 2018 while receiving the loving care of her family.

Kathy’s brother Michael was friends with a guy named Rick Warren.  While Kathy was attending Wayne Valley High School, Mike and his friend Rick were both students at DePaul High School where they were on the wrestling team. Kathy came to DePaul one day to watch her brother’s wrestling match and she and Rick met for the first time after the match.  Kathy was just a fifteen year old sophomore so her father was not crazy about letting her go out with the older Rick.  Nevertheless, their first date happened in December of 1975.  It was to a high school sporting event and was followed by numerous other dates.  One day, Rick went to see Kathy’s parents to ask for their permission to marry their daughter.  With their blessing secured, Kathy and Rick exchanged their vows before God, family and friends on Sunday, November 11, 1979 at Our Lady of the Valley Church in Wayne.  A reception followed at the Wayne Elks Lodge where, back then, the cost per plate was a mere $12.00.  Everyone partied to the sounds of a live band which Rick just happened to be a member of.  Their honeymoon followed at Coki Beach in St. Thomas.  After their first two days on their getaway, Kathy and Rick were so extremely sunburned, they weren’t able to move for the rest of the trip.

In their first home together, an apartment in a three-family home in Clifton, Kathy and Rick welcomed their first daughter Christine.  Two years later they purchased a home on Elizabeth Place in Totowa.  There they were blessed with daughter number two, Kimberly.  In 1991, they moved to Wayne and have been residents of the town ever since.

Kathy saw her primary role as being the best mother she could be, so during their formative years, she stayed home with Christine and Kim.  She was determined to give them a head start on their education.  With the help of a magnetic board with numbers and letters, she had the girls counting and reading words before they even entered preschool.  She loved her role as “Mommy” and had fun making all of their Halloween costumes and attending all their Wayne PAL softball and basketball games.

Once the girls were old enough, Kathleen started working nights, part time as a waitress at various places including the Sheraton near Willowbrook Mall, the Barnyard in Wayne, and the Calico Kitchen in Totowa.  In 1995 she started working full time for various companies including Mark Seven Transport in Riverdale, L&B Warehousing in Totowa, Haband of Oakland, Decker Transport in Riverdale, and Pacer Global in East Rutherford.  As each company closed, she moved onto the next.  She was presently working as a customer service representative in logistics and warehousing for Ram Medical of Wayne.

A bit of a fashionista, looking at photos throughout Kathleen’s life would give you a good indication of what the hairstyle of the decade was.  She captured all the looks – permed, shaved, mullet, Farrah Fawcett look, big 80’s hair, etc. To Kathleen, shopping was considered a hobby and her favorite place was Kohl’s.  She couldn’t wait to get the Kohl’s flyer in the mail to peel back the label to see if she could get 15, 20, or 30% off her next purchase.  Macy’s was close second.  Kathleen was also a big fan of the Lifetime television channel.  With its programming primarily geared toward women some of her favorite shows included Woman on Patrol, Unsolved Mysteries, Grey’s Anatomy, and Married at First Sight.  She just loved the drama.

Above all, Kathleen’s family was the most important part of her life.  As a little girl, she had the privilege of seeing much of the USA while traveling for four months with her parents and siblings using their travel trailer.  While growing up she also developed a great love for beach life, spending summers living with her grandparents in Seaside Heights.  In addition to many summer weekends, visiting the shore became a yearly tradition with her husband Rick and their two daughters spending the last two weeks of every August in Seaside Park.  This tradition went on for years and was still presently going on.  Kathy liked everything about the shore, going to the bars restaurants right off the beach, and playing games with her family on the boardwalk.  While not a huge NASCAR fan herself, Kathleen happily went to the races twice a year just so she could be with her family.

Kathleen lived to take care of her family and friends and to make them happy.  If you were planning to throw a party, Kathy was the girl to call and pull it off.  She’d roll up her sleeves and get right in there organizing whatever needed to be done to make it a success.  Very detailed oriented, she always knew exactly how much food to prepare and exactly when to serve it so it was nice and hot.  She was one of the most caring people you’ll ever meet.  

Kathy was the beloved wife of Richard, blessed in marriage for thirty nine years; loving mother of Christine and husband Jeff DeFranzo of Watertown, CT, and Kimberly and husband Andrew Chernack of Rockaway; adored grandmother of Domenic and Vincent; loving daughter of Tom and Fran Shaw of Wayne; and dear sister of: Mike and wife Loretta Ward of Pompton Lakes, Tom and wife Lis Shaw of Wayne; Fran and husband Dana Kamp of Germantown, TN; Susan and husband David Levine of Wayne, Timothy Shaw of Wayne, and sisters-in-law; Karen Shadwell and Denise Turkmany Hofbauer, the late Billy Hofbauer, the late Chuck Ward, and the late Bobby Casey.

In lieu of flowers those panning an expression of sympathy in Kathleen’s name are asked to consider St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memorial Processing, 501 St Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105-9959.  www.stjude.org