Karin E Edmondson

West Kill Karin Else Edmondson passed away peacefully in her home and gardens in West Kill, New York on Thursday August 18th, 2016. She was surrounded by her two daughters, Elisa Maria and Karin Ursula and their dogs and cat. She was seventy two years old. Karin Else Tomiczek was born September 15th, 1943, daughter of the late Bartholomew and Agnes Golla Tomiczek. She was the youngest of three children in Turawa during World War II and spent her formative years in Quedlingberg, what was then East Germany. As a young child Karin loved to spend time in the gardens of the house she grew up in, with peonies and roses and all sorts of wildlife. Around the age of 10, Karin and her mother fled from East Germany to Munich where she lived until immigrating to America. Karin's love of nature grew as she explored her native Alps and the rest of Europe. In 1965 she left West Germany and traveled, via ocean liner, to New York City where she established a career and a family. For twenty-five years she worked as the Grant Coordinator for the Department of Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. In 2001, Karin fulfilled her lifelong dream of owning a home when she purchased Crazy Horse Ranch in West Kill. She has been a full time mountain dweller since retiring in 2006. Her two greatest joys in life were her daughters, Elisa Maria and Karin Ursula. She also loved baking and was famous for her apfelchuchen, probably making near thousands of them during her lifetime for friends and family. Karin is survived by her two children, Karin and Elisa of West Kill, her partner of 29 years Al Lamme of Oakland, NJ; two older siblings: Peter Paul Tomiczek and Ursula Klara Bendt, both residing in Germany, one nephew and three nieces, also in Germany; and ex-husband Ted Edmondson of NJ. The last couple of summers, she was part of the annual Shandaken Animal Volunteer Effort's Tag Sale at Migliorelli's Farm Stand where she would sit in 80 degree heat and talk to the various shoppers who stopped by. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday at 10am at the St. Francis de Sales Church Main Street Phoenicia. Burial in the West Kill Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9pm at the E. B. Gormley Funeral Home. 87 Main Street Phoenicia. You may share a condolence with the family on Karin's Memorial Page at www.gormleyfuneralhome.com