Katherine Esposito

Katherine Esposito passed away peacefully at her home, surrounded by family, on Thursday, March 4 ^th , in the year of our Lord 2021. She was beloved mother, yia yia “grandmother”, sister, aunt, and friend. She was a woman of faith and of great love.

Kay enjoyed raising her two sons and was the nucleus of her family. She was a wonderful homemaker, doing the traditional work of cleaning, laundering, decorating her house to make it a home, and preparing delicious homecooked meals for her family. Kay cooked mostly American foods of a wide variety, often preparing family favorites, but every week or so she liked to try a new recipe that she heard or read about. Owing to her Greek heritage, she cooked the occasional Greek meal or dessert. Koulouria cookies were a fun example of that because everyone loved the cookies, and as children we got to help roll out the logs and shape the twisty cookies. Kay had a “green thumb” when it came to plants. Her house plants thrived as did her flower beds at our home in Brown Deer, WI. She nurtured a vegetable garden, so the family could enjoy fresh vegetables all summer long. She enjoyed reading and watching her television or tablet. We often read the same books or watched the same shows and enjoyed talking about them. She was gifted with words and loved Scrabble and word puzzles. Kay was a loyal friend; she enjoyed taking a coffee break and visiting with a good friend. Kay was a great listener. Her favorite conversations were one on one. She was a cat lover. She was content.

Kay was born in Wheeling, WV on September 16 ^th , 1935. She grew up on 26 ^th street in New York City; the Chelsea neighborhood. Her parents were from Crete, Greece, and she is preceded in death by father Constantine Pagonakis, mother Kalliopi Pagonakis, brother Gregory Pagonakis and sister Gail Mastrantonakis. She is survived by sister Chrisula Schmidt. She attended American and Greek school, and spoke both languages fluently, which is amazing because she hardly ever had occasion to speak Greek. She grew up with close friends, including Noula (Dan’s godmother). She played violin in High School. We heard stories of cooling off on a hot summer day in the spray of a fire hydrant that someone had tapped, but later found out that most often they just went to the public swimming pool. On Saturday’s they went to the movies all day, or the family went to Coney Island.

In 1956, she married Daniel Esposito and together they raised sons Daniel Jr. and Joseph, in Queens, NY, and later in Brown Deer, WI. After her sons were grown, she worked as a data entry clerk at the Milwaukee Medical Clinic, and later as a secretary for Stone Advertising. She joined the choir at Brown Deer United Church of Christ, and enjoyed singing, new friends, and choir events. Not only did she have a beautiful voice, but she enjoyed listening to music. She liked John Denver, Neil Diamond, and many other artists.

She moved to Windham, NY in 1991 to be with her siblings, and resided there for 14 years. Windham is a vacation town in the Catskill Mountains, and is very beautiful. Though her family missed her being far away, annual visits had the benefit of beautiful surroundings, and lots of relatives to visit. In 2005 she moved to Naperville, IL. Her son Dan and daughter in-law Deb enjoyed having her nearby and helped her acclimate to the area. She attended Community Christion Church and participated in the Caring Hearts and Hands ministry where she not only helped people, but she made a new friend or two. She moved to Madison, WI and was near both her son’s families as Joe relocated to Kenosha, WI.

Kay is dearly loved and is survived by her granddaughters Christina Marie Esposito and Danielle Darlene Esposito, step granddaughter Georgianna [Gigi] Kalmon, and her sons Daniel Jr. (Deborah) Esposito and Joseph Raphael (Mary) Esposito. Her family and friends will miss her wisdom, humor, love, smile, and the sound of her voice.

Private services will be held at Cress Funeral Home in Madison, WI on Thursday, March 11 ^th . A video stream of the service will be available to the public, beginning at 2:00 PM CST. https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=db0637eb-7da2-418c-b4fe-3e3f99077413

Katherine’s granddaughter, Christina, has been in the excellent care of Saint Coletta of Wisconsin for the past few years.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Saint Coletta of Wisconsin, N4637 County Road Y, Jefferson, WI 53549 (www.stcolettawi.org/donate/) in care of Christina Esposito, who resides at the Dower house.