Kathleen Harris

Kathleen P. Harris, 70 years of age, of Cheshire, CT, passed away on September 15, 2017 in Aldie, Virginia. Born in Princeton, NJ, she was the daughter of the late Charles and Dorothy (Ziegler) Harris.

Kathy was a unique and amazing person. Overflowing with love for her children, her family, her friends, and her animals, Kathy knew no limits to the compassion and care she showed to everyone she encountered. In the last years of her life she spent her days enthusiastically embracing her many passions, especially theater, opera, museums, Israel, Judaism, beading, and most of all, her children and siblings. Even when confronted by the diagnosis of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) she never retreated from embracing life and the many opportunities for fulfillment.

Kathy was born in Princeton, New Jersey and spent many formative years in South Carolina and New Jersey with her parents Charles and Dorothy, and siblings Chuck, Terry, Wendy, and Pamela. In 1968, at the age of twenty one, she married Alan Kramer of Westport, CT, giving birth soon after to their first child, David. A second child, Jason, was born soon thereafter in 1972 while the family was living in Philadelphia, PA. When the boys were still young Kathy and Alan made the life-changing decision to make Aliyah to Israel. Their lives were dramatically and wonderfully changed with the adoption of Atara at seven months of age in 1982.

The family returned to the United States in 1984 after Alan and Kathy divorced. Over the next years Kathy demonstrated a tremendous interest in a wide range of activities and pursuits including theater and opera where she was both an avid theatergoer and a participant as an actor and singer. She developed a love of beading and started her own beading company, participating in craft fairs and tradeshows across New England. During these years Kathy also manifested her love of all animals by embracing a number of dogs and cats who she lovingly adopted into her family.

Over the years Kathy returned to Israel five times, culminating in her trip to celebrate Atara and Amir’s wedding in July 2015. Her passion for Judaism prompted her to attend synagogue at the Chabad synagogue in Guilford, Connecticut. She studied the Torah, kept Kosher, and continued to shape her life around her faith. In her limited spare time she volunteered at museums as a tour guide, at the Met Opera in New York as an usher, and as a literacy volunteer.

In February 2017 Kathy was diagnosed at Sloan Kettering in New York with a high risk form of MDS, a type of aggressive blood cancer. She bravely battled the symptoms and complications steadily through the months as her condition worsened. Finally, in September, she was brought to Virginia to be closer to David. She fought bravely as her faculties began to fail and finally, peacefully, she passed away on September 15.

Kathleen is survived by her children, David H. Kramer of Reston, VA; Jason G. Kramer and his wife, Tessa, of King of Prussia, PA, Atara Sharon Goldshtein and her husband, Amir, and daughter Galit, of Brighton, MA; her brothers, Charles C. Harris, Jr. of Moscow, ID, Albert W. Harris III and Mary Beth of Hinesburg, VT; her sisters, Wendy Silverstein and Alan of Palm Beach Gardens, FL and Pamela J. Graef and Greg of Placitas, NM.

Funeral services will be held on September 18, 2017 at 2:30 PM in the Chapel of the Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Ave., Hartford, CT with Rabbi Yossi Yaffe officiating. Interment will follow in the Pine View Cemetery, 21 Quaker Road, Queensbury, NY on September 19, 2017 at 1:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab, UT 84741 or www.secure.bestfriends.org. For further information, directions, or to sign the guest book for Kathleen, please visit online at www.weinsteinmortuary.com/funerals.cfm.