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In Memory

Kristen Bockus (Resch) VIEW PROFILE

Thanks to classmate Tom O'Connor for the following obituary and inspirational comments about Kristen and her life.

Kristen was my next-door neighbor from 1966 - 1977.  For me, she was literally the girl-next-door.

I wasn't sure how to post her obituary to www.whs1977.com, so I thought I would send it to you.  You can find it on page 13 of 26 of the PDF. 

Kristen had been married, so searches for Bockus don't readily return her obituary. 

In 1999 I attended her funeral service in a suburb of Philly.  The breadth of people attending was amazing.  Family, neighbors, high school friends, college friends, colleagues, her husband, and their very recently adopted son.  I remember being struck by how many people she had touched in her life.  I'm not a big believer in Heaven, but I remember thinking that if it does exist, a good introduction would be to observe your own funeral.  It would be a powerful and inspirational reminder of how many lives each of us touches, and the good we are capable of generating in the world.  It is not an exaggeration to say that her funeral service, and what she did with her time on earth, still inspires me to be a better person.

She died from complications from diabetes, having been diagnosed around age 15.  At that time her life expectancy was about 35 years.  It is strange how your perspective changes over the years. As a 15 year old myself, I thought 35 years old would be a pretty good run.  My father had died 5 years earlier at age 35 and he seemed plenty old - at the time.  Kristen defied the odds a bit and ended up making it to age 40, which now, of course, seems way too young.  I can't believe it's been 18 years already.

Obituary of Kristen Bockus Resch

Kristen Resch, 40, Registered Nurse; Graduate of Westfield High School

Kristen Resch, 40, of the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia died on Friday, May 7, at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. Born in East Orange on December 14, 1958, she grew up in Westfield and had also lived in Andorra before moving to Philadelphia more than 15 years ago. Mrs. Resch was a registered nurse for The Chestnut Hill Pediatric Group for 15 years. Previously, she had worked at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia in its Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. She was a member of Our Mother of Consolation Roman Catholic Church in Chestnut Hill and a former member of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church in Andorra. She graduated from Westfield High School and from the University of Delaware, where she received a nursing degree and her credentials as a registered nurse Surviving are her husband of eight years, Robert B. “Rudy” Resch; a son, Timothy Resch; a son, Timothy Resch of Chestnut Hill; her parents, Harry Bockus and Sally Hickok, both of Mountainside; four brothers, Rick Bousquet of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Paul Bockus of Bozeman, Montana, Chris Bousquet of Burlington, Vermont, and Bill Bockus of Mountainside, and three sisters, Susan Bockus of Palo Alto, California, Carol Anderson of Mendham and Anne Bousquet of Ethiopia. A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Tuesday, May 11, at Our Mother of Consolation Church. Interment was at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. Funeral arrangements were handled by the Lownes Funeral Home of Lafayette Hill and East Norriton, Pennsylvania. Memorial contributions may be made to Gifts of Life Donor Program, 2000 Hamilton Street, Suite 201, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19130. 

Westfield Leader, May 13, 1999

 



Click here to see Kristen's last Profile entry.