PATRICIA JEANNE KUSH

1959 - 2015

KUSH, Patricia Jeanne 56, of Lexington, passed away peacefully on October 19, 2015 at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers, after two years of living with cancer. Pat was a loving mother and wife, an advocate for the adoption of children, and an electrical engineer. Pat was born in 1959 in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and grew up in State College, Penn., where her father was an electrical engineer on the research faculty of the Pennsylvania State University. Pat was the daughter of the late Mary Ann E. Kush (Posey) and Louis J Kush, Jr. As a teenager in Pennsylvania, Pat made and sold hand-crafted children's hand puppets, and co-founded the Tallyrand Park Arts Festival in Bellefonte. Pat followed in her father's engineering footsteps and earned her B.S. in electrical engineering from Penn State. While working as a student at the Applied Research Laboratory there, Pat met her husband-to-be, Lou. The two married and moved to Natick, Massachusetts, ultimately settling in Lexington, Mass. in 1987. Pat continued her schooling and received an M.S.E.E. from Northeastern University, while working at the C. S. Draper Laboratory. After Draper, Pat joined GTE, which became her life-long employer (GTE, GTE Laboratories, Bell Atlantic, Verizon), where she worked most recently for many years with a small team advancing the architecture of Verizon's telecommunications infrastructure. Over the years, Pat received many awards for her technical contributions at work. Pat and her husband Lou adopted their three children in the mid-1990's, and the children she met and experiences she had as an adoptive parent gave Pat a new sensitivity and compassion for children in need of families-and in adoption as a solution for that need. Pat and a team that she rallied were among the top fundraisers for the annual Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange "Walk for Adoption" (now the "Jordan's Walk for Adoption"). She was supported by generous co-workers, family and friends, and made this event a priority. Even after Pat became ill, she insisted on raising funds and participating in the Walk. At her church, Pat co-led an annual adoption Mass and gathering of adoptive families; teddy bears used as a part of this celebration were donated annually to be given to children being adopted at local courthouses. Pat was also active in helping to keep her church from being closed, and investigated and brought forward the two-parish model as a way to relieve the push to close the church. Pat fought intensely to maintain her health. By her personal strength and with the support of family and friends, Pat managed to live her life as fully as possible during her illness. In 2015, she traveled to the Massachusetts State House and spoke in favor of forming a committee to raise awareness of the need for early detection of ovarian cancer to improve outcomes in treating the disease with which she was afflicted. Pat is survived by her husband of 31 years Louis R. Quartararo, daughter Alexandra and her husband Aaron Collins and their newborn son, daughter Patricia, son Louis, sister Mary Kathleen (Kay) Kush, brother Thomas J. Kush and his wife Laurie, Lou's parents, and many in-laws, nieces and nephews. Funeral will be held from the Douglass Funeral Home, 51 Worthen Road, Lexington, on Saturday, October 24, at 8AM, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at Sacred Heart Church, Lexington, at 9AM. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend. Visiting hours Friday from 4-8PM. In memory of Pat, donations may be made in Pat's name to the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange, 45 Franklin Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 (or online at www.mareinc.org). Interment Westview Cemetery, Lexington.

Douglass Funeral Home

Lexington, 781-862-1800

www.douglassfh.com