Irene K. LaGrega

A lifelong area resident, she was born Nov. 16, 1924, at the family home in Lakewood, N.Y., a daughter of the late Michael and Mary Sabor Kudzy.

She was a 1942 graduate of the former Lakewood High School and a 1945 graduate of the former WCA Hospital School of Nursing.

She began her nursing career working at the Kingston Avenue Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 1947-55. After raising her family, she had worked as a night supervisor at the former Manor Oak Skilled Nursing Facility in Jamestown from 1971 to 2000, after 29 years of service.

In previous years, she was a communicant of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Lakewood, N.Y.

She will be remembered as a loving and caring mother and grandmother who loved to cook, bake and spend time with her family. She also was an avid reader and enjoyed crocheting and doing adult coloring books. She loved going to various church dinners with her friends and taking care of her beloved grandcat, “Dexter.”

Surviving are her four children: Deborah A. (Tim) Sotir of Jamestown, N.Y., Denise K. (Anthony) LaGrega Bertucci of Lutz, Fla., Michael F. (Roberta) LaGrega of Leawood, Kans., and Diane M. LaGrega of Jamestown, N.Y.; five grandchildren: Christopher M. (Mary Beth) Sotir of Rensselaer, N..Y, Elizabeth D. (Michael) Colloton of Albany, N.Y., Jacquelyn Bertucci of Tampa, Fla., David Bertucci of Chicago, Ill., and Natasha L. LaGrega of Leawood, Kan.; two great- grandchildren: Abigail and Julyan Colloton, both of Albany, N.Y.; a brother, Theodore Kudzy of Red Hook, N.Y.; and two sisters: Anne Eckman of Oneonta, N.Y., and Katherine Kudzy of St. Paul, Minn.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Michael F. LaGrega, whom she married April 21, 1951, and who died Nov. 4, 1964; a daughter, Lisa J. LaGrega who died in 1966; an infant granddaughter; a brother, Daniel Kudzy; and a sister, Marion Hall.

The funeral will be held at 4 pm Wednesday in the Lind Funeral Home. The family will receive friends for one hour prior to the service on Wednesday in the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to the Lakewood Memorial Library, 12 W. Summit St., Lakewood, NY 14750 or to the American Heart Association, Founders Affiliate, P.O. Box 417005, Boston, MA 02241-7005.

You may leave words of condolence to Irene’s family at www.lindfunetal home.com.