Kamilla Way

1933 - 2023

Obituary

Guest Book

BORN

1933

DIED

2023

Kamilla Way Obituary

Name: Service for Kamilla Way
Start: 2023-03-18T14:00:00.000Z
Location: Foxdale Village

Published by Legacy Remembers on Mar. 10, 2023.

Kamilla Way
February 5, 1933 - March 3, 2023
State College, Pennsylvania - Kamilla Way, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family in State College, PA on March 3, 2023. Kamilla was born in Steiermark, Austria on February 5th, 1933, the daughter of Franz and Maria Fast.
Kamilla attended university in Vienna and shortly after joined the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker global peace organization, where she met her husband,Ralph Way. They married in Vienna before returning to the US together on the Queen Mary. Together, Ralph and Kamilla built and developed many neighborhoods in State College, in addition to building the Way Townhouses and the Friends Meeting House. Perhaps their greatest contribution to State College was founding and building Foxdale Village Retirement Community. Their work expanded beyond State College when in 1972 they moved their family to Zambia, Africa to complete a two-year housing and school project. In addition, Kamilla served on the board of Housing Transitions further contributing to her lifelong dream of equitable housing for all.
Despite her many achievements, Kamilla considered her greatest to be her family. She is survived by her husband Ralph; her three children Andrew Way (Cindy), Ingrid Thompson (Michael) and Ericka Way-Ahn (James), along with her seven grandchildren; Amanda, Kelsey, Kyle, Loryn, Colby, Ryan and Rachel and six great-grandchildren; Lucy, Wendy, Oliver, Brayden, Reagan and Cooper. She also leaves behind many extended family members and lifelong friends, whom she loved dearly.
Kamilla was a visionary who dreamed big. She viewed the world through a lens of optimism and believed "everything will work out." Her life modeled hard work in service to others. The lessons that she taught us will live on forever.
A Quaker Memorial Meeting will be held in the Foxdale Auditorium at 2:00 pm on Saturday, March 18, 2023.
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to be made in Kamilla Way's name to the State College Housing Transitions Fund: www.housingtransitions.org/donate/. Address: 217 East Nittany Ave, State College, PA 16801.

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Recent Activity

March 20, 2023

Elizabeth (Betsy) Rung posted to the memorial.

March 10, 2023

Loretta M Jeffreys (Laurie) posted to the memorial.

March 10, 2023

The Simmet Family posted to the memorial.

4 Entries

Elizabeth (Betsy) Rung

March 20, 2023

I have so many wonderful memories of Kamilla and Ralph Way , their kindness and goodness, during the many years I lived in the Way Townhouses. Andrew and family, Ingrid and family, Erika and family, Ralph, your Mother's death, your wife's death is a sad passage and I'm so sorry. A remarkable human being has left us and we grieve her physical presence, but remember with gratitude and joy her example, the light she shone on a world struggling with darkness. You likely don't remember me, Erika, Anne Rung's Mom, Betsy, but I'll always remember you and your kindness too!

Loretta M Jeffreys (Laurie)

March 10, 2023

Kamilla was my friend for over 50 years. She was always positive and loving to family and friends, helping without being asked. She took strangers into her home and made them friends. She took on one of my teenage kids when things were difficult; her advice was accepted because it came from her. She shared her apartment in Vienna with us and showed us around the country. We shared a garden for several years, and met monthly with another friend for many more years at the Waffle Shop for breakfasts. No project was too big for Kamilla-not moving the family to Zambia for two years (though they finished the job in 15 months) , not handling half of all building projects with Ralph, including the Way Townhouses, Friends Meeting, and Foxdale Village. Foxdale has the imprint of her native Viennese culture-an auditorium with a real stage for community, music and the arts, an art room and galleries, a large library, and a beautiful dining room which she designed and managed for the first six months Foxdale was open. Kamilla saw people, not skin color, educational credentials, handicaps, or ethnicity-she saw people and was kind to everyone. We shall not see the likes of her again, and her death is a real loss to our community.

The Simmet Family

March 10, 2023

Our condolences to the Way Family. We were neighbors growing up in Park Hills.

R Thomas Berner

March 10, 2023

I knew Kamilla in two lives. She was first my landlady when we lived in the Way townhomes and then later as a community spirit. She was a great person to know; her optimism was contagious.