Kathleen Mae Patricelli

Kathleen ”Kay” Mae Patricelli, 92, of Fairview, passed away Tuesday, February 11, 2020, at CarePartners Solace Center.

She was born in Bessemer, MI, to Helen and Isaac Turner on May 28, 1927. She married the now late Celestino “Pat” Patricelli in 1950.

She is survived by her daughter, Celeste Baldwin and her husband, David of Fairview, and granddaughter, Lauren Baldwin Sparks and her husband William, of Chapel Hill.

Kay attended nursing school at St. Mary’s of Nazareth in Chicago and graduated in 1945. She stayed in the Chicago area and continued with a career in nursing in the O.R., private duty and with hospice. Later, with her husband, they owned a dry cleaning business as well as three laundromats in River Grove, IL.

In 1975, they moved to Eagle River, WI, and lived between there and the Chicago area until her husband’s death in 1993. She worked at the Eagle River Hospital in the emergency room and became an EMT. She continued to live there until 2015 when she moved to Asheville, NC to live with her daughter and son-in-law.

In her post retirement years, she was an active volunteer with the VFW and St. Peters Church Thrift Shop.

She continued volunteering after moving to the Asheville area with the Friends of Pack Library. She celebrated her 90th birthday with her library friends.

She loved fishing, reading, feeding the birds and deer and going to the casino.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 29, 2020 in the chapel of Groce Funeral Home on Tunnel Road.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Friends of Pack Library, 67 Haywood St. Asheville, NC 28801.