Kathryn Anne Conroy

Kathryn Anne Camberdella was born June 6, 1948, in Brooklyn, New York, to Thomas and Patricia (Tyson) Camberdella, was baptised at St. Thomas Aquilas Roman Catholic Church and made her first communion and confirmation in Christ at Our Lady of Refuge. The first of 7 children, predeceased by one infant brother, Michael, and one beloved sister, Carol, she grew up on East 38th Street, just down the Brooklyn road from her grandparents, Joseph and Mary Agnes (O’Connor) Tyson. In 1963, the Camberdella family moved further east out to Long Island, specifically Brentwood, NY. After graduating from Brentwood High School in 1966, she married her high school sweetheart, Glenn Conroy . The two honeymooned in Niagara Falls and started their family in 1967 with the birth of their daughter, Lisa, followed closely by daughters Kim and Kelly, and only son, Glenn (G.J.). In 1974, with reluctance about leaving her family behind, Kathey joined Glenn on a cross country journey and moved their family from New York to Lake Havasu City, AZ, providing their children with an idyllic childhood living in the desert and on the beach/lake. Weekends were spent boating and sleeping in coves under the stars. In the mid 1970s, Kathey and Glenn purchased The Book Nook, the only book store in Lake Havasu. Books were Kathryn’s passion and she took great pride in the fact that she knew most of her clients’ interests and could recommend new books to them from memory when they walked in the front door. In addition to The Book Nook, Kathryn also helped Glenn manage several businesses, including a car rental agency, Havasu Bakery, Jartran, and Robin Hood Ice Cream Shoppe (employing most of their children), amongst other entrepreneurial ventures. The Book Nook was “her baby” though.

In 1983, Glenn and Kathryn welcomed their fifth and last child, and only child born in Arizona, Jaclyn.

Despite her initial reluctance to move away from her NY roots to the desert, Kathey had grown to love Arizona, could often be found in a chair outside basking in the sun with a book in her hand. She worshiped the sun, the sunsets and the mountains so much that she bid farewell in tears to their desert home in 1986, when the Conroy’s returned to (Sound Beach) New York. Just a couple years later, following their divorce, Kathryn took her first position outside the family businesses, at Laidlaw Transportation, primarily because it allowed her to bring 4 year old Jaclyn to work with her and did not require her to obtain outside care. She worked at Laidlaw for many years where she served as a driver, dispatcher, and route coordinator in Shoreham, NY, and built many new friendships. As her children were growing up and out, Kathryn faced a new role with a great sense of strength, determination and independence - that of a single mother to Jaclyn, her youngest child. Through those years, she not only raised Jackie, but also became a mother to so many of Jackie’s friends, who found solace and great comfort in her calm and caring nature and in her warm home where many could lay their head or count on a warm meal, whether that was her eggplant Parmesan or her famous fried chicken cutlets.

With Jaclyn grown and the rest of her children now living in the desert southwest, Kathey and Jackie moved back to the Valley of the Sun in 2003, where Kathey continued, by company transfer to First Student in West Phoenix, as a route coordinator, where she developed many new friendships before retiring in 2019.

In 2022, following the pandemic, Kathey, who had been living a fiercely independent life, joined the family residence of her daughter Kelly and son-in-law, Jason, allowing many years of close knit quality time and memories with her grandsons, Jaxson and Jude, who absolutely adore her, and spending many long hours in the company of her son-in-law, Jason, who continuously entertained each other.

Over the past few years, Kathey was a welcome and beloved member of the “Friday Night Dinner Gang”, developing a strong bond of friendship and love with Jaclyn Bryant, Veronica Gomez, Jacque Vidal, Phillip Lankford and her BFF, Dee Lankford.

It wasn’t long, however, before Kathey was tackling several unexpected and very complicated medical issues that ultimately led to her hospitalisation in late 2024, from which she did not recover, passing away in the presence of her beloved children and brothers in the afternoon on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at Dobson House (Hospice of the Valley) in Chandler, AZ.

Kathey lived a well traveled life and raised a family who loved her with extreme devotion. She enjoyed any kind of puzzle, whether it was a jigsaw, crossword, Wordle or logic problem, not to mention card games and all night games of California (until the sun came up!). She also enjoyed quilting. There was never a time there was not music playing throughout her home. She had a passion for music that she shared with her children, with her favorites being Carole King, James Taylor, The Bee Gees, Neil Diamond, Boz Scaggs and Barry Manilow. She spent a significant amount of her life with her nose in a book (or, later, a Kindle), and was obsessed with Outlander. She loved to cook. And, until later years when it became more difficult, she loved to garden (something she passed on to all her daughters). And as with her early sun worshiping years, she spent many of her later years sitting on the pool deck basking in the sun.

Most people would describe her as having a kind, gentle, and calming personality. As the matriarch of our family, she was not only a steady and loving presence to us but also a source of wisdom and guidance to those close to our family. Her nurturing spirit extended beyond our immediate circle, touching the lives of everyone fortunate enough to know her.

She is survived by her children: Lisa (Thad) Eckland of Lake Havasu, Kim (Steve) Davis of Lebanon, TN, Kelly (Jason) Villanueva of Chandler, AZ, Glenn Conroy, Jr of Manorville, NY, and Jaclyn (Michael) McManus of Farmingville, NY, as well as 14 grandchildren (predecesso by one infant grandchild, her first, Shea Lane Romo) and 11 great grandchildren, many beloved nieces and nephews, and brothers: James (Karen) Camberdella of Ridge, NY, Thomas (Sissy) Camberdella, of Murell’s Inlet, SC, Robert (Linda) Camberdella of Loxley, AL, and John Camberdella of Littleton, CO.

Services for Kathryn will be provided by Valley of the Sun Mortuary: 10940 E Chandler Heights Road, Chandler, Arizona 85248 at 2PM on Saturday, February 15, 2025. Kathryn’s ashes will be scattered at her final resting place- on Lake Havasu - where she can bask in the sun and enjoy every sunset and every cloudless expansive starry sky for the rest of time.