Irene Mary Kempa

Irene Mary Kempa died of natural causes on April 27, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. She was 92. The second child of Jan and Anastasia Arak, she was born in 1917 in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Chicago, Illinois at a young age. She was an excellent student, and the champion speller in the fourth grade of the Catholic Diocese in Chicago. She left high school early to help support her family during the Depression. She worked numerous jobs, including secretary to an Air Force colonel during World War II. In 1947, she married Steve Kempa of Chicago, and thereafter devoted herself to raising their children. The couple moved to Tucson in 1977 and Denver in 1987. After 52 years of marriage, her husband died in 2000. From 2003 to 2004, she lived with her son Rick and his family in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and then returned to Denver. In her last years, she thrived under the loving care of her son Steve. Irene was a lifelong lover of reading, a superb Scrabble player, and a skilled seamstress, knitter, crocheter and artist, creating countless objects, all of which she gave away. Her passion was her family. She is survived by her five sons and their families: Tom and his spouse Linda of Detroit, Michigan and his three children, Betty, Sara, and David; Jim and his spouse Kathy of Grand Junction, Colorado; Steve of Denver; Rick and his spouse Fern of Rock Springs, Wyoming and their two children, Claire and Adam; Jack and his spouse Kathryn of Norwalk, Connecticut and their two children, Emily and Gavin. A service in her honor will take place at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 11385 Grant Drive, Northglenn, Colorado at 11 a.m. on June 28. Memorial donations in her name may be made to a charity of one's choice.