Kathleen (Kaye) Borgesen

Kathleen "Kaye" Borgesen (McCarthy) born in New Waterford, Nova Scotia (4/17/1940), died at 83 years old at her Lakeland, Florida home where she and her husband Steven Borgesen lived half of the year. They shuttled between their homes in Newton, Massachusetts, and Bridgton, Maine for the other six months. Each time with a pole straddling the back seat on which Steve's patterned shirts and her brightly colored, often monochrome outfits hung.

She left her coal mining town at 19 to come to Boston where she was a housekeeper when she wasn't carousing in Jamaica Plain at Kilgariff's bar where she met her husband. They dated twice, punctuated by her breaking up with him after she visited the building site and he refused to come down off the roof to talk. A few years later they reconnected and got married. She cried so much walking down the aisle that the priest asked her if she wanted him to stall for ten minutes until the bus made its stop outside the church. She and Steve were married for nearly 55 years. During that time, they camped, built a home together, raised two kids, played cards, traveled, and bickered.

Kaye was incapable of dishonesty. If she thought you were full of it, were doing something stupid, or had no common sense, you would know it, either through her incredulous look or hearing her ask, "Are you crazy?" She would strike up a conversation with anyone and not think twice about asking personal questions. One time when someone whom she had just met told her his brother was getting divorced, without a pause she asked, "Who was cheating on who?"

Never one to accept any kind of bigotry, or hate, she was welcoming to all. There was never a stranger, only a friend that she hadn't yet met. Anyone was always welcome in her home. She could be cantankerous and was determined. She didn't graduate from high school but was hell-bent on her daughters getting advanced degrees and doing better than she had.

She was proud of the life she made and of her daughters Paula Wilson (and her husband Bob); and Cathy Borgesen (and her husband Mehmet Dincer). She had three grandsons who loved her, Michael and Andrew Wilson; and Dylan Dincer who will miss her fiercely.

A memorial service will be held Sunday, April 14th at 4:00 at the clubhouse at 4800 Colonnades Club Blvd, Lakeland, FL 33811, and can be viewed remotely at https://tinyurl.com/kayememorial

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a hospice organization of your choice. Please feel free to leave your condolences below.