Kathleen "Kathie" M. York

Jackson Township
Kathleen M. York (nee Pallone) 

       “Kathie” York, 81, passed away at the VNA Hospice Center, Valparaiso, IN, on October 18, 2021, after a brave battle with cancer.
       Her life story began on August 28, 1940 in Hammond, the daughter of John and Elsie (Kish) Pallone.  The first seventeen years of her life were spent in a community called Ross in Lake County, in a house built by her father and his father.  There she attended Ross Grade School and the first two years of high school at Calumet Township High.  Then, in the summer of 1957, she moved with her family to rural Valparaiso where she began her junior year at Jackson Township School, graduating in 1959. 
       For five years she worked for Porter County Plan Commissioner and then met Bill “Whitey” York, whom she married at Liberty Bible Church in Chesterton, on October 20, 1961.  They were blessed with two sons, Steven, now of Westville, and Timothy of Chesterton.  When her boys were small, she enjoyed being a Cub Scout den mother.  
       Later she became interested in antiquing, as her mother had been, and would comb the countryside, looking for treasures at yard sales, eventually hosting many of them herself. For the past several years, she was active in the planning of the Jackson Township Alumni Association annual reunion.  But above all, what gave her the most pleasure, was opening her home to family and friends.  No invitation necessary; just show up and you were welcomed.  At the very top of her list of favorite things, however, was Christmas. She loved it so much that this year she didn’t even take her tree down.  It stands in her sunroom today, still glittering in all its 9 feet of glory. 
 

       In addition to her parents, Kathie was preceded in death by her husband, her sister, Maureen (Pallone) Alexander, several aunts, uncles, and two cousins. 
 

       She is survived, in addition to her sons, by: grandchildren Christopher York of LaPorte; David York of Chesterton; Lily (Cody) Singer of South Haven; great-grandchildren: Silas York of LaPorte and Atlas York of Valparaiso; her sister, Bonnie Pallone of Jackson Township; aunt and uncle, Larry and Sylvia Kish  Tracy of Arizona; niece, Megan (Scott) Fites of Wisconsin; nephews, Sean Alexander of Wisconsin; and Wesley (Beth) York of Chesterton; grandnephews Peter and Paul Fites of Wisconsin and last but not least, many wonderful friends such as Walter “Sonny” Talbert, her devoted partner for the past eleven years. 

       Funeral services will be held on Friday, October 22, 2021 at 1 p.m. at White-Love Funeral Home, 525 S 2nd St., Chesterton, IN. The family will receive friends from 11 a.m. until time of service at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Chesterton Cemetery. 
Please share your wonderful memories with the family at: www.whitelovefuneralhome.com. 
 

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