Obituary of Karen K. Kilcoyne

(nee Keller)

passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family at Samaritan Hospice, Mt Holly, on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018. Age 79. Born in La Grange, IL, Karen was a resident of Delanco for the past 37 years.

Born 1939 in Chicago, IL, Karen grew up in La Grange, IL, on Catherine Avenue. She graduated from Lyons Township High School in 1958.  She attended Ohio University in Athens, OH, and graduated in 1962, with a degree in English.

In 1968, she married J. Daniel Kilcoyne of Portsmouth, OH. They had two sons, whom they raised together until his death in 1995.

Karen excelled as a writer and for 35 years she used her skills as a technical editor for the Air Force, RCA, Lockheed-Martin, and most recently Covance, Inc in Princeton, NJ.   She retired in 2005.

Karen was an avid traveller and made memories with friends and family on trips throughout Europe, China, and Australia. She was a devoted mother to her two sons, Daniel and Joseph, and grandmother to Edward and Niall.

She dedicated much energy and time to friends and her community.  She served as president of the Women’s Club of Delanco for several years. Karen was a member of the township Republicans and the Philadelphia Sailing Club for two decades, each of whose newsletters she helped edit and publish.

She will be remembered as a loving and intelligent person with a bright personality, outgoing, who made a friend of everyone she met, and who made us all laugh.  She was witty and fun, and full of adventure. She had a deep optimism that helped her through adversity and taught others, through example, how to “enjoy being.”  She is dearly loved by her community and by all who knew her. She will be dearly missed.

Preceded in death by brothers Richard and Edward Keller, husband Joseph Daniel Kilcoyne, father Edward and mother Marion, beloved Aunts, Mary and Alice, step-mother Paula Keller.

Survived by: son Daniel of Delanco; son Joseph, daughter-in-law Lorrin and grandchildren Edward and Niall of Middletown, MD; niece Julie Keller of Nashville, TN; Step-brother and -sister Tom Armstrong and Polly Armstrong O’Donnell, and the very many friends whom she held so dear.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend Karen’s visitation Saturday afternoon from 1 PM - 2 PM at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 324 Bridgeboro St., Riverside, NJ 08075. Funeral service to follow at 2 PM.  Pastor Anne Wrede officiating. Interment will take place at Greenlawn Cemetery, Portsmouth, OH.

Donations may be made in her name to the Delanco Public Library.