OBIT: Kathleen D. Reitler (Templeton)

Kathleen D. Reitler, 66, of Templeton, died Monday, June 30, 2014, at her residence, after a long battle with cancer.

She was born Oct. 10, 1947 in Pittsburgh, a daughter of Richard Dale Reitler and Sara Jane Linder Reitler. She was a lifelong resident of McGrann.

Kathy was the wife of Richard L. Hadden, who was her loving caregiver.

She was a hospice worker for VNA and a member of Christ Prince of Peace Parish. Kathy traveled and met people from many diverse backgrounds and situations. She worked at the Everglades National Park in Florida and saw the foliage and flowers and animals as heaven’s gift. She was the caretaker of Cooks Island off the Florida Keys for 17 years. This solitude and hard work would have made others suffer and turn away but the beauty of the surroundings kept Kathy there and happy for years. While there, she would boat over to Big Pine Key and work at the famous No Name Pub as head chef. While in Connecticut and later when she returned to live in Pennsylvania, she found great satisfaction in caring for the elderly as an employee of Visiting Nurses and received a prestigious award Health Care Worker of the Year. Everyone who knew Kathy knows of her great love for animals. She took in special needs cats and housed and cared for them and then found them homes. She enjoyed her lifelong love of cats. Kathy was a loving person who welcomed everyone into her home. She loved to cook family dinners and everyone could be counted as family. She started a monthly family dinner at her house so that family and friends could keep in touch. This was very important to her and she was an excellent cook.

One of the greatest blessings in her life were friends. She loved them greatly and they will miss her.

She is survived by her husband: Richard L. Hadden; stepson: Timothy and Carla Hadden of Slate Lick; stepdaughter: Catherine and Matt Malec of Ford City (who were very important in her life); and sisters: Barbara and Lynn Bittinger, of Stowe, OH, and Janet Reitler and Mark Moore of Florida; nephew: Brian Julius Kwolek and his wife Courtney; and her niece: Annie L. Lerman and her husband Michael, and their two children. She was the perfect aunt, always full of adventure and stories, always supportive and loving and always arriving with arms full of gifts and could not do enough for these two children.

She was preceded in death by her brothers: John “Pierre” Reitler and Richard Reitler.

Visitation will be from 12:30 PM until the time of a funeral service at 1 PM Thursday, July 3, 2014 at Christ Prince of Peace Parish, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 1 PM Thursday with Father Alan Grote. Interment in St. Marys Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations will be accepted by Barbara Bittinger, 3418 Oak Road, Stowe, OH 44224.