WESTFIELD – Karen Boyan Soares, age 79, of Westfield, MA and Hobe Sound, FL, died on Sunday, July 14, 2019 at the Cleveland Clinic, Martin Memorial Hospital in Stuart, Florida. She was born in Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey, on July 3, 1940. She was the youngest of three children born to Elizabeth Schweitzer and Andrew Boyan. Karen was raised in Englewood, New Jersey, and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School. She is a graduate of the Englewood Hospital School of Nursing, and earned her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. A lifelong learner, Karen received her Masters in Education from Westfield State College. Karen was a nursing instructor, and an Allied Health educator. She retired from the City of Westfield’s Vocational Technical High School after thirty years of service. She was the Chair of Westfield Vocational HS Advisory Board, an active member of the Westfield Sons of Erin and the member of the Women’s Club of the Retreat, Hobe Sound. Karen was preceded in death by her parents Andrew Thomas and Elizabeth Boyan, and her brother Andrew Thomas Boyan Jr. She is survived by her husband of fifty years Abel M. Soares, her daughter Karen Wyman, and her husband Peter of Beaufort, South Carolina, her son, James A. Soares, of Agawam, MA, and her daughter Amy Drinkwater, and her husband Jon of Jupiter, Florida. She leaves behind her grandchildren Madison and Alexander Wyman, James and Delaney Drinkwater, and Patrick Soares, as well as many nieces and nephews.
The family will greet friends from 4 to 7 pm on Sunday, July 28th at Firtion-Adams Funeral Home, 76 Broad Street, Westfield, MA and again on Monday morning from 8:30-9:00 am followed by a Funeral Mass at 9:30 am at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Westfield, MA. Burial immediately following at the Mass Veterans Cemetery in Agawam, MA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Dr. Dobbs – Vertical Talus, c/o Maureen Mizwicki, Senior Director, Medical Alumni and Development Programs, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, Campus Box 1247, 7425 Forsyth Bld., Suite 2100, St. Louis, MO 63105-2161. Firtionadams.com.
