With Love from Karen

If you are interested in information about what happened to Karen and her family over the years, a Yahoo group, Killilea_fans, has done a lot of research which you can find on Yahoo. You need to go to http://groups.yahoo.com/, then search for the group killilea_fans. You will need to sign up on Yahoo if you haven't already. Anyone can join the group.Be sure and check out the Killilea_fans Description page, as it has a link to "Pertinent Postings" (the most important posts with family info) and a "Timeline" of the Killilea Family. The group has also posted a number of photos of the family as well as newspaper articles.Marie and Jimmy did not divorce, however, "Little" Marie and her husband Ron Smiley did. On a very sad note, on 7/31/68, Gloria and Russ's two daughters, Mary De Lourdes and Evely Ann, as well as "Little" Marie's daughter, Michelle Smiley, died in a fire in the Lea's house. Gloria and her two sons escaped. Marie Killilea died on 10/23/91, Jimmy died on 7/25/94. Gloria died on 11/28/01 and Russ died on 2/15/02.

If you go to Yahoo and set up an account, you can join their groups, one of them being a group interested in the Killilea family. There are pictures of the entire family, plus house, dogs, friends, etc. There are also a lot of updates on what happened to all the family members (except Rory) since the books ended. One of the members even crashed Russell Lea's funeral to get a glimpse of Karen.

"Karen" and "With Love from Karen" are without a doubt two of the most inspiring books I have ever read. Marie Killilea writes with such heart and conviction about her family's experiences and personalities that the reader feels an instant kinship. Perhaps that is why it is so frustrating that so little has been written about the family's later years.As an update, I recently learned that Gloria passed away in November 2001 at the age of 72. She was survived by her husband (Russ) and two sons, Russell and James. No daughters (Mary and Evelyn) were mentioned. According to Marie Killilea's obituary, little Marie lives in CT and occasionally comes to the Larchmont library. Karen lives/works in Westchester County. She is on the board of a children's home and works for a well-known priest who runs retreats. Rory is married with children and lives in the Seattle area. Kristin is married and lives in Westchester county. As for why someone from NY Telephone would have had connections to literary, theatrical people, I think this came more from Marie than Jimmy. Her father was a sportswriter for the NY Sun, and there probably would have been some connections there.

"Karen" and "With Love From Karen" have been a part of my life since junior high (and I have kids older than that now). These books have probably educated more hearts than anyone will ever know. My own copies are without covers and tattered, but I wouldn't part with them for anything.I just can't buy the divorce story--it has to be a mistake.These books are needed by this generation, "With Love From Karen" needs to be available again in print.Like everyone else, I really would like to know what happened to all the family.