Crampton, Mary C. "Katie"
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Mary C. Crampton, fondly known as Katie, left us to be reunited with her loving husband, Kenneth "Kenny" L. Crampton, on Tuesday, November 27, 2018. He has been waiting 25 years for her and promised shortly before he died that he would be “waiting on the other side” for her.
Born Mary Catherine O’donohoe, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Katie met the love of her life during World War II. She left her homeland to travel to Schenectady and married Kenny on August 12, 1948. Katie and Kenny owned The Tartan Pub in Scotia for many years before retiring to Galway Lake. While living in Scotia, Katie was a member of St. Margaret of Cortona parish in Rotterdam Junction.
Katie lived in Middletown for the past 15 years with her oldest daughter and her sonin-law, Sheila and Fortune Esposito. She loved living close to her granddaughters, Kelly Esposito-broelmann (Robert) of Middletown and Jenna Esposito-cannizzaro (James) of Brooklyn. In her prime, Katie enjoyed going to the family’s many musical events. She loved hearing Fortune, Kelly and Jenna sing, and she would sing along in her own spirited and off-key way! Katie’s biggest joy was having her “best friend” - great-grandson, Charles "Charlie" Broelmann in her daily life. Having Charlie play the guitar and drums always made her happy. Together they were a dynamic duo who played, laughed, danced, were silly together, and loved each other deeply.
Katie is also lovingly survived by her daughter Maureen Liggett (Joseph) of Scotia, and her grandchildren, Jeremy Liggett of Scotia, and Brittany Liggett of Scotia; her son, Kevin O’donohoe Crampton (Joanne) of Scotia, and their children, Marta Chiera (Dominick) of Delmar and Mikel Mattice of Scotia, and their grandson Triston Parker of Scotia.
Some of Katie’s fondest memories from before she moved to Middletown were of Kenny’s huge country breakfasts, Christmas with her children and grandchildren, going to Brittany’s go kart and stock car races, taking in a NASCAR race with Brittany and Jeremy, attending Jeremy’s judo events, Mikel’s imitation of Elvis, and Marta’s art work of Kenny wearing a t-shirt saying “God made the Irish #1.”
We would like to offer very special thanks to the staff at Braemar Assisted Living, especially those who work in the Memory Care unit, and who provided Katie with kind, loving, and respectful care over the past 15 months.
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All of you will never be forgotten.
Visitation will take place on Monday, December 3, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Applebee Mcphillips Funeral Home, 130 Highland Ave., Middletown. A celebration of life will begin at 5 p.m. followed by a musical tribute to Katie. A funeral service of remembrance will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, December 4, at the funeral home, and burial in the family plot will follow in Park Cemetery in Scotia. Father Gus Graap, O’carm will officiate the celebration of life and the funeral service of remembrance.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Schenectady Pipe Band, P.O. Box 13792, Albany, NY, 12212 or to Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at alzinfo. org/savetheneurons/donate.
Through all the years of Katie living with advanced dementia, she never worried, she lived in the moment, and appreciated every day. May we all learn from the simple beauty of being able to dismiss needless worries, enjoy each moment and treasure every day.
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