Barbara Janet Kasch Grasselena, a lifelong area resident, died Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, at Glen Arden Health Care Center in Goshen. She was 97.
She was born on May 13, 1924, in Monroe, a daughter of Frank and Vera Klein Kasch.
She was a 1941 graduate of Monroe High School. After high school, Mrs. Grasselena was employed by Highland Telephone Company until World War II commenced. During the war, she was a civilian employee of the Department of the Navy in charge of telecommunications at the Naval Officers Convalescent Hospital at Arden House in Harriman.
Mrs. Grasselena married her husband, Charles D. Grasselena, in 1951. Together they owned and operated Grasselena’s Liquor Store in Chester until Mr. Grasselena’s death in 1986 when she retired.
In 2004, Mrs. Grasselena moved to Glen Arden Retirement Community in Goshen where she resided until her death.
She was a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Warwick.
She is survived by two sons: Gary Grasselena and his partner Carol Meyer Anstey of Grahamsville and Gregory Grasselena Thornton and his husband Jeffrey Thornton of Newburgh; one sister, Carole Glasspool of Felton, Delaware; one nephew and several nieces, including Cheri Nosworthy of Middletown.
Friends may call at Donovan Funeral Home, 82 South Church St., Goshen on Monday, Aug. 16, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Funeral services will be at St. James’ Episcopal Church, 1 St. James Place, Goshen, on Tuesday, Aug. 17, at 10 a.m.
Interment of Mrs. Grasselena’s cremains will immediately follow at St. Columba’s R.C. Cemetery in Chester.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Guild of St. Margaret Soup Kitchen, 12 Depot St., Middletown, New York 10940, the Warwick Valley Humane Society, P.O. Box 61, Warwick, New York 10990 or Sullivan County SCPA Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 995, Rock Hill, New York 12775. Kindly mention that the donation is made in memory of Mrs. Grasselena.
The family would like to thank the nurses and staff at Glen Arden Health Care Center for their loving care of Mrs. Grasselena during her nine-year residence in the Health Care Center.