The Lyons-Carlson family is saddened to announce the passing of Kathleen Lyons on March 29, 2025. She was born on November 15, 1965 in Wilmette, Illinois, where she grew up with her four sisters. They remained close even as they moved apart across the country.
Kathleen was always academically successful and motivated to make a positive impact on others. She excelled in her undergraduate biology studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She always loved children and found fulfillment in becoming a pediatric physical therapist. After undergraduate studies, Kathleen continued her studies at Washington University in St. Louis for a Master of Science in Physical Therapy (MSPT). As she did wherever she went, she made lifelong friends in undergraduate and graduate school. Kathleen was known for medical insights, compassion, creativity and a contagious, humorous, and positive view on life
After school she started her career at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago. La Rabida serves children with complex medical conditions and disabilities. Kathleen loved working with these children and their families, helping them through their challenges and hardships. She was thrilled when she could see these children making progress, and as before, she maintained lifelong friendships with some of the families and her La Rabida colleagues. Kathleen liked La Rabida so much, she worked there twice!
However, once Illinois implemented its Early Intervention program, Kathleen knew she wanted to serve families in their homes. She started her own company, Kidnetics, and served many grateful families right up until she was too sick to continue. Kathleen left home every day and drove across the city to see her clients, rain, snow or shine. She became known by friends for her outstanding parking karma. If she was going somewhere, anywhere, she always found a parking spot right in front of her destination, even in the busy streets of Chicago.
Kathleen enjoyed travel and cultural experiences and travelled to many countries when time and opportunity allowed: Ireland, England, France, Sweden, Thailand, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico and more. Her warmth, curiosity and open mind attracted many friends from various parts of the world; parties at home were often international events.
Kathleen was not only a smart, beautiful, and kind person, but also full of will and intelligence. Her family and friends who have followed her through the last few years have seen her solving impossible problems and living through hell, all the while keeping her love for life. She was constantly smiling and would stop at nothing to live and love as long as she could, despite the ticking clock of her colon cancer diagnosis. As her cancer progressed, she only became more determined in her fight. With the help of her friends and her sisters, she found a solution: a liver transplant from a living donor. Some successful transplants of this kind had been done and Kathleen decided she would be the next.
Against all odds, Kathleen successfully received a liver transplant in 2021 from her close friend, Eileen Womac, allowing her four more years of life. Kathleen successfully watched her daughters graduate from high school and enter college. Fiona graduated May 12th with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design and art history, and Ingrid finished her first year of college studying ecology and evolutionary biology.
Kathleen loved her two daughters more than anything else; she even loved them before they were born! Kathleen loved being pregnant with them. Delivery was not seen as a challenge but as an exciting event.
Kathleen was always a step ahead to make sure Fiona and Ingrid were always creatively and academically engaged. She brought animals, plants, toys, paints and everything else into the house. The windowsill became a garden of tomato sprouts, and the backyard filled with flowers, butterflies, and our beloved pets, the chickens. When the girls sat in the backyard, the chickens would fly up to sit in their laps and enjoy all the love and care they could get. You could always find Kathleen in the yard when the sun was shining, drinking a cup of Barry’s black tea and watching for migrating birds.
Kathleen constantly made life beautiful and interesting. She always had a new project, something to sew, bake, read, or plant. She loved living in Chicago as she always had somewhere new to explore–a trip to the bird sanctuary, an art festival, or a new bakery. She made every day exciting and fostered in her daughters a curiosity for the world. She also helped them excel academically, navigating Chicago’s complicated school system to get her girls into Skinner West Elementary and Whitney Young High School.
Kathleen always had plenty of energy for everyone. She was the life of the party and brought excitement the moment she walked into a room. Her smile was contagious, and her jokes were always funny. She loved reading sappy Irish romance novels, birdwatching in Humboldt Park, playing Scrabble, and watching the Great British Bake Off with her daughters. Kathleen was a great cook and baker, always making the house smell delicious with Aunt Clara’s Chocolate Drop Cookies or a new and suspiciously easy bread recipe. She shared her love of baking with her daughters and her recipes will live on through them with the same yummy smells, just in new kitchens. She was never tired of exploring something new. Her cooking ideas could also be shocking like when she put a chicken inside the Thanksgiving turkey and turned the dinner into a delivery event!!.
Even though she was born in the ‘burbs, living in the heart of Chicago was perfect for Kathleen’s curiosity and energy. She made sure the family did not miss out on events worth seeing, and contacted friends to meet up for music, street food, art sales and any gathering worth participating in. When friends and family came visiting she made every minute exciting.
Kathleen was an amazing wife, mother, sister, daughter, therapist and friend. She was so well known for her loyalty, kindness and sharp wit. She is so missed by all who knew and loved her.
In lieu of gifts/flowers, please consider donating to La Rabida Children’s Hospital in her honor. https://larabida.org/donate/
