Obituary of Kathleen Okaly

Kathleen (a/k/a Kathy) Okaly of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey passed on December 3, 2022.

Kathy lived in Woodbridge, New Jersey before moving to Whitehouse Station 44 years ago.

She was employed by Golden, Rothschild, Spagnola, Lundell, Boylan & Garubo as a Legal Secretary/Administrative Assistant to a Senior Partner for 34 years when she retired. 

An ovarian cancer survivor of 12 years, Kathy was not one to be defeated by her health issues. She was an active member in local health organizations and revered by the community at Morristown Medical Center, where she received most of her treatments, for her wealth of knowledge of her disease and the research surrounding it. She organized fundraisers for ovarian cancer and presented at two symposiums advocating clinical trials.   

She was a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Whitehouse Station.  She completed the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) Program and was confirmed at the Easter Vigil in April 2012 where she became a communicant and volunteered as a Eucharistic Minister and Lector.  

Kathy loved to scrapbook and travel. Some of her favorite places to visit were US National Parks, especially Yellowstone National Park.

Kathy was the daughter of the late Margaret Lamberti Shields and Melville Lester Shields, and sister to her late brother and sister, Howard Keith Shields and Darlene Shields Szatkowski.  She is survived by her husband of 49 years, John; her son, Clayton John Okaly; her sister, Sharon Shields Fenton; sister-in-law, Maria Shields; and nieces, Tiffany Fenton, Danielle Shields LoPinto, and Stephanie Shields. 

A funeral mass will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 9:30am at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church at 390 Country Road 523, Whitehouse Station.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the Kearns Funeral Home in Whitehouse. Please note, there are no services being held at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to either Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (ocrahope.org; 212-268-1002) or Women’s Cancer Center at Morristown Medical Center (hmcfoundation@atlantichealth.org; 973-971-5900).

Details of an additional memorial service will be announced at a later date.