Stefania I Kenessey

Dr. Stefania Kenessey passed away at age 87 after years of courageously battling a degenerative illness. She was a beloved mother of Stefania (Eric) and Alec (Annie), grandmother of DeeDee (Brendan) and Jordan, and a cherished friend to so many. In her professional life she was a highly skilled, knowledgeable and humane pediatric medical doctor. She leaves behind a life full of examples of hard work, determination, and an unceasing commitment to ensure that those around her are well fed!

Born in a rural part of Bulgaria, Stefania studied hard and was able to travel to Hungary where she completed medical university (in a language, Hungarian, wholly unrelated to her native Bulgarian). There she met her husband Zoltan, to whom she was lovingly married until his death some twenty years ago. After the family moved to the United States in the late 1960’s, Stefania, in yet a new foreign language, passed the requisite medical certifications and fulfilled, for the second time in her life, the grueling residency process in order to work as a physician in the U.S. She was a faculty member at Georgetown University, and cared for children and others suffering from genetic disorders at Great Oaks Center in Maryland and later at United Cerebral Palsy in Washington D.C.

We will all miss her terribly and at the same time remember her many examples of courage, compassion and hard work to serve as examples for our own lives.

We are having a memorial service at Gawler's Funeral Home on Sunday March 25 starting at 4 (readings at 4:30, reception/wine/food starting 5pm). Some of you knew her and some of you did not; whether you come for some portion of the event or can be there only in spirit, we are deeply thankful for your presence and/or thoughts and prayers. Please do feel free to dress as you feel is comfortable.

If you would like to contribute, in lieu of flowers we ask that you donate to:

United Cerebral Palsy of Washington DC and Northern Virginia

3135 8th Street NE Washington DC 20017, or

National Brain Tumor Society

55 Chapel Street, Suite 200, Newton MA, 02458

We are having a small private burial for family on Saturday March 24 at the Wesley Cemetery in Prince Frederick MD, where she will be buried next to her late husband and love of her life, Zoltan Kenessey.