Native obituary: Karen Shook Taddonio, 68, early childhood educator and mother to 2 daughters

Native Obituaries

Karen Shook Taddonio, of Plymouth and previously of Pennsylvania, died on July 13, 2023, of glioblastoma. At this time, July 19, is Glioblastoma Consciousness Day.

Karen Shook Taddonio (1954-2023)

Karen Shook Taddonio — beloved mom, spouse, “Kiki” (grandmother), sister, pal, and early childhood educator — died peacefully at house on July 13 in Plymouth, MA at age 68, practically two years after she was identified with glioblastoma, a terminal mind most cancers.

Married for 45 years to her highschool sweetheart, Dr. Richard Taddonio, Karen thought-about life’s best blessings to be her household and mates (adopted intently by the seaside, board video games, and the music of the Beatles!). She by no means forgot to ship a birthday card, missed an opportunity to supply encouragement, or handed up a chance to see the perfect in others. She cultivated and maintained friendships that lasted a long time. Her legacy of kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, and optimism will stay on endlessly.

Born in Decrease Merion, PA, to oldsters Theodore and Constance Shook, Karen graduated from Nether Windfall Excessive College in Wallingford, PA, in 1972 and earned her Bachelor’s diploma in particular person and household research at Penn State in 1975. She married Wealthy, the love of her life, in 1978. They made one another snigger, held fingers in mattress each single night time all through Karen’s sickness, and raised two daughters who’re endlessly grateful to have such great dad and mom.

Karen had a lifelong love of working with kids and a present for making each particular person she met really feel beloved, revered, and appreciated. She interned at Kids’s Hospital of Philadelphia as a play therapist within the toddler medical unit, labored for the Head Begin program in Washington, PA, and spent greater than a decade as a preschool and kindergarten instructing assistant at Breezy Level Day College in Langhorne, PA. Karen significantly beloved serving to youngsters study to learn: Seeing that lightbulb go on once they put all of it collectively, she mentioned, was like a miracle.

However greater than something, Karen beloved being a mother. Elevating her and Wealthy’s two daughters to be compassionate individuals with the boldness to pursue their goals was her best objective and her best pleasure. That pleasure was amplified when Karen grew to become “Kiki” to 2 treasured grandsons (“These two little boys are the sunshine of my life,” she was recognized to say). In 2020, after 60-plus years of residing in PA, Karen moved to Plymouth, MA, with Wealthy to be nearer to their daughters and grandchildren (however worry not, PA family and friends: she continued rooting for the Phillies).

Karen was lightning-fast and undefeated when taking part in “identify that tune” for music from the ‘50s and ‘60s. She beloved Broadway exhibits, inside design, Bravo, jigsaw and crossword puzzles, and brainteasers (she beat her daughter at Boggle even when contending with a golf ball-sized mind tumor). She beloved spending time on the Delaware shore along with her husband as he fished — sitting subsequent to him, feeling the sand between her toes, and having fun with the sound of the ocean as she learn e-book or HGTV journal.

Each earlier than and after her August 2021 most cancers analysis, Karen taught these round her to follow gratitude, to worth household, to like each other, to maintain one another, and to snigger with one another — lengthy, exhausting, and as typically as attainable.

Karen is survived and endlessly adored by her husband, Richard; her daughters, Patrice and Courtney; her sons-in-law, Jackson and Kyle; her grandsons, Daniel and Teddy; her siblings, Paul and Elaine; her prolonged household; and the many individuals whose lives she touched over time. A memorial service celebrating her life will happen within the early fall. In lieu of flowers, please think about making a donation in Karen’s reminiscence to the PBS investigative journalism sequence FRONTLINE (frontline.org/tributegifts), or in assist of mind most cancers analysis at Massachusetts Basic Hospital, the place Karen acquired therapy. Donations by test might be made out to MGH, Dr. Dietrich’s Mind Most cancers Analysis Fund, and despatched to Heidi Bergmeyer, MGH Improvement Workplace, 125 Nashua St., Suite 540, Boston, MA 02114.

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