Kathleen Ann (Driscoll) Nadeau

Kathleen Ann Nadeau passed away peacefully on Wednesday Feb 15 surrounded by her beloved family.      She was a loyal and loving teacher, friend, godmother, daughter, sister, aunt, mother, mother-in-law and most importantly grandma. She was proceeded in death by parents and brothers.

Kay was extremely devoted to and loved her family. Her parents were Eddie and Bernardine Driscoll. She and her twin brother Tom were born at St Mary's Hospital in Long Beach California on Sept 17, 1940. She also had an older brother Mike who was born on August 8, 1939 giving her parents three children in thirteen months.

     Kay and Tom graduated from St. Anthony's High School in Long Beach in 1958. Kay began her teaching career in Catholic school in the early 1960s, she graduated from Long Beach State and was very proud to have earned lifetime teaching credentials in California and Missouri. She met the love of her life in Long Beach and married Jean Nadeau who everyone knew as Chum. They were married and came home from their honeymoon in Big Bear to a draft notice from the United States Army. They were stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri where Kay continued her teaching career until she gave birth to their son Jeff. Kay came home to Long Beach for Jeff's birth but then returned to Missouri until Chum was discharged from the Army. They returned to California to raise their family and bought a home in Garden Grove where Kay lived for nearly fifty years.    

    Kay stayed home to devote herself to her family. She raised their son Jeff and became a loving mom involved in all of Jeff's sports and school activities. She was also devoted to taking care of her parents and started a new phase of her life travelling to Lake Isabella where all the members of her family had  vacation homes. She and her sister in law Darlene became AVID fishermen to the extreme displeasure of their children Danette, Rod and Jeff, which cut severely into their water skiing and boating .

    Kay returned to the classroom when Sr Kathleen Marie Pugh encouraged her to get back into teaching. This led to another true love of her life, her students. She began teaching part time at St Mary's in Fullerton as a reading specialist. When Sr Kathleen Marie became principal at Holy Family, she hired Kay in the same roll for several years until Kay returned as a full time teacher as a 1st, then 3d and finally 5th grade teacher at Holy Family where she taught until she retired, completing a 33 year  teaching career. She always referred to her students as "her kids". Any student who had Mrs. Nadeau knew that she was very tough, and very disciplined but she truly loved "her kids" with all of her heart.

    Kay also was a fiercely devoted member of her family. She loved her mom and dad, her brothers Mike and Tom, her sister-in-law Dar, her niece Danette (the daughter she never had), nephew Rod and great nephew Davin with all of her heart. She loved and guided her son Jeff through difficult times during high school when she and Chum divorced but she loved her son fiercely and was always there for him through good times and tough times but her life found it's real meaning in the last 24 years after Jeff married his wife Kelli and they brought four beautiful grandchildren into her life. Kay found new meaning in life when she became GRANDMA to Jake, Taryn, Michael and Ryann. She was never absent from their childhood, babysitting at a moment's notice. She turned Jeff's childhood bedroom into her grandchildren's playroom. Filling the room with books, toys, games and thousands of photographs from their childhood, their outings, trips to the park and Del Taco. As long as she was able, she never missed a game, a school awards ceremony or a school event, even when her granddaughters' only lip synched in their school choir Christmas concert. But she truly devoted her life to their sporting events. Grandma never missed a game unless her grandkids were playing at the same time at different locations and then she helped Jeff and Kelli by driving and attending whoever needed the support. She truly believed that her grandkids were the greatest players on every team they ever played on and the only reason they ever lost a game was because of the umpire, the referee, or the inferior talent of their team mates. This did lead to some mortifying moments of embarrassment for Jake, Taryn, Michael, Ryann, Kelli and Jeff. Jeff had to tell his mom to be quiet on more than a few occasions to not hurt their friends feelings. She wasn't perfect but nobody alive EVER doubted her love for her grandkids.

    It devastated her in the last few years to lose her mobility and her ability so see her grandkids play ball. Covid made it impossible to attend the last of Ryann's high school career. She was never able to attend any of Michael's college football games in person, but she attended the watch parties in our living room and depended heavily on the workers at Emerald Court to set up her computer every week to watch his games live stream which was the highlight of her week.

    The last years of her life created many new friendships at Emerald Court. She spent decades making Jeff promise to never put her in one of "those places" but when she began having numerous falls at home and it became too dangerous for her to live alone, she found a new family at Emerald Court. She quickly became friends with so many new people at her new home. And every visit by her family proved her love for them. Every friend, worker, volunteer and visitor at Emerald Court knew how much she loved her family and every time we would meet one of her new friends, they would tell us how proud she was of our accomplishments and how much she loved us. 

    After spending so many years of her life fighting one medical problem after another, fighting every day to be there for her family that she loved so much, she finally succumbed to age was not able to live in her beloved Emerald Court and had to leave her friends one last time. She spent the last months of her life surrounded by caregivers and family at a board and care facility A Faithful Home. One last time Jeff kept his promise to not send her to one of "those places" and she spent the rest of her life in a beautiful, clean, peaceful home supported by caregivers and hospice nurses and workers who loved and cared for her.

    On Wednesday February 15, mom, grandma, Kay. Aunt Kay and Mrs. Nadeau took her final breath and joined her family members, her friends, and sadly even some of "her kids", her beloved students in heaven. We love you and miss you mom.

 

 

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