Obituary of Karen Kast

Karen A Kast, 63, of Niskayuna passed into eternal rest on January 23, 2013, after a brief but intense struggle with cancer. She died peacefully at her Niskayuna home of 35 years with her husband Steve, her sister Patricia and a hospice nurse in attendance. Karen was born in Schenectady on April 13, 1949, to the proud parents Dr. Harry F Herbrandson and Doris M Herbrandson (Hamilton). Karen lived most of her childhood years in Troy and Niskayuna. She graduated from Niskayuna high school, and then graduated from the University of Rochester. She went on to graduate study at Syracuse. Although her degree was in political science, her fondest memories of college were working on set design for theater productions, and spending a semester in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Karen was a homemaker, a fabric artist and a contributor to the community. She was always ready to teach her neighbors about sewing, bread making, gardening or canning fruits. She was famous for the blueberry syrup she canned every year after her summer vacation in Vienna Maine during blueberry harvest time. Karen was active in several capital district quilting organizations, including Schenectady QUILTS and Delmar QUILT Inc. She was also passionate about rowing and kayaking on the rivers of New York. In the mid-1990s, she was co-president of the Niskayuna high school rowing club, and all three of her children were on the Niskayuna rowing team. Karen was a rower herself with the Aqueduct Rowing Club. She competed in races such as the Head of the Charles in Boston and the Head of the Fish in Saratoga. Karen and her friend Shawna Thompson proved their devotion to water adventure by kayaking from Alplaus on the Mohawk River down the Hudson River to Manhattan in 2005. Karen is survived by her husband Steve, her older sister Patricia Yonemura (Herbrandson) of Minneapolis Minnesota; and her younger brother Carl Herbrandson of Roseville Minnesota. She is survived by three children, Alice Noyes of Fort Walton Beach Florida, Deborah Erenstone of Lake Placid NY, and Peter Kast of Gardiner Massachusetts; and by two grandchildren, Holly Erenstone and Tyler Erenstone of Lake Placid NY. A memorial service celebrating Karen's life will be held at Glenville Funeral Home, 9 Glenridge Rd, Glenville, NY on Saturday, February 16 at 2:00 pm. There will be a visitation time with the family at 1:00 pm. Karen donated her body to the Anatomical Gift program at Albany Medical College, as had both her parents. So, there will be no usual funeral service. Contributions in Karen's memory can be made to the Community Hospice, an organization which Karen admired because of their caring support of her parents, and which also helped Karen in her last days.