Obituary of Kathleen Joan Haedrich
Kathleen Joan Haedrich, age 78, passed away on Friday, December 2, 2022 at the Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ. Born and raised in Perth Amboy, Kathleen lived with her family in Piscataway and Basking Ridge before moving to Whitehouse Station in 2017.
Kathleen received her Bachelor of Arts from Trenton State College where she participated in a study abroad program in Germany, and later did graduate work in the Reading Certification Program at Kean College. She married 2nd Lt. Joseph Haedrich (US Air Force) in 1969. Early in her career, Kathleen taught in Lubbock, Texas, and Fairborn, Ohio while living on local air force bases. She began teaching elementary school in 1966 for the Piscataway public school system where she taught Language Arts, Math and Social Studies. She took great joy in her career, retiring in 2010 after 40 years. In 2019 she became an English Language Tutor for the Literary Volunteers of Somerset County.
While growing up in Perth Amboy, Kathleen and her extended family were deeply engaged with the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Assumption. She was proud of her Ukrainian heritage, and continued to celebrate traditions which she passed on to her children. Kathleen loved meeting new people and quickly made friends with strangers. She valued her friends and could sit, talk and laugh for hours. Kathleen greatly enjoyed gardening and spending time outside in nature. She loved to travel and deepen her understanding of history and culture — in recent years she traveled abroad to Russia and India. Most of all, she loved spending time with her family, especially visiting with her five grandchildren.
She is survived by her three children; Todd Haedrich and his wife Jan, Jayson Haedrich and his partner Amanda Hamann, and Samantha Haedrich and her partner Bryan Graf; five grandchildren, Lexington, London, Cocoe, Nola, and Maxine; siblings Dr. Theodore Labuza and his wife Dr. Mary Labuza, Gregory Labuza and his wife Geraldine, and Loretta Keimel and her husband, Fred Keimel along with many cherished nieces and nephews and their families.
A visitation will be held on Thursday, December 8, 2022, from 2 to 5 pm at Higgins Home for Funerals, 752 Mountain Blvd. Watchung NJ 07069 with a funeral service starting at 3 pm at the funeral home.
Memorial donations may be made in her loving memory to the Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County:
https://www.literacysomerset.org/donate
