Obituary of Kathryn Isabel Layden

KATHRYN ISABEL LAYDEN Rexford- Kathryn Isabel (Evers) Layden, 82, passed away on April 7, 2014, at Schuyler Ridge residential health care facility in Clifton Park, after a short illness. Kay was born in Troy, spent most of her adult life as a resident of Whitehall and lived the last four years at Coburg Village in Rexford, N.Y. Kay was married for 57 years to Edward F. Layden, who predeceased her in April of 2013. Kay was born October 7, 1931 in Troy, the daughter of Joseph F. Evers (1891 - 1949), a professional baseball player and later a sporting goods store owner; and Isabel Catherine (Maxwell) Evers (1889-1967), a seamstress and homemaker. Her uncle was Johnny Evers, a major league baseball player who is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Kay was raised on 4th Street in North Troy, the youngest of three children, and graduated from Catholic Central High School in Troy in 1949. Kay enrolled at St. Peter's Hospital School of Nursing, graduated in the spring of 1952 and for three years worked as a surgical R.N. in the hospital's operating rooms. In 1955, Kay and Ed were married and shortly thereafter the young couple moved north to Whitehall, where Ed helped take over his late father's law firm. Kay officially retired from the daily practice of nursing, but for the rest of her life would hold close to her heart the following phrase: ``Once a nurse, always a nurse.'' Together Kay and Ed had three children and while Ed practiced law, Kay did much of the work of raising their family. Later generations would call her a ``stay-at-home Mom,'' but in fact she stayed at home only some of the time. She spent many hours shuttling her children endlessly to their practices and games, concerts and shows, appointments and meetings. When Kay did stay at home, she was the loving spirit and the steadying force in a bustling household, a rock to her children and her husband. A product of Catholic schools in childhood, Kay was a communicant at Our Lady of Angels Roman Catholic Church in Whitehall and a member of the Catholic Daughters of America. She spent summers with her family at their home on Lake St. Catherine, Vermont and learned to cherish watching the New York Giants with her husband on Sunday afternoons. When her children were grown, she took up golf and enjoyed playing leisurely rounds with her friends at the Skene Valley Country Club. In later years, she loved doting on her five grandchildren, of whom she was immensely proud. Kay is survived by her three children and five grandchildren: Tim and his wife, Janet, of Simsbury, Conn., and their children, Kristen and Kevin; Joe and his wife, Susan, of Saratoga Springs, and their children, Emily and Max; Peg (Layden) Palmiere and her husband, Todd Palmiere, of Latham, and their son, Sam. She is also survived by more than two dozen nieces and nephews. Kay was predeceased, in addition to her husband and parents, by her brother, Joseph F. Evers, Jr. (1923-2000) and her sister, Margaret (Evers) Handy (1927-1989). Calling hours will be on Wednesday April 9, 2014 from 5-7 pm at Dufresne and Cavanaugh Funeral Home, 149 Old Loudon Road, Latham. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Thursday April 10, 2014 at 9:00 am at St. Pius X Roman Catholic Church, 23 Crumitie Road, Loudonville. A private burial service will take place at a later date Our Lady of Angels Cemetery in Whitehall. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made in memory of Kathryn Layden to Community Hospice of Saratoga County, 179 Lawrence Street Saratoga Springs NY 12866. www.Communityhospice.org. For directions, information or to light a memory candle for the family please visit www.dufresneandcavanaugh.com