Kathleen B. O'Connell

Kathleen Bridget O’Connell passed away peacefully in her home in West Yarmouth on Sunday morning, January 25, 2026.

Kathleen "Kate" was a woman of determination and purpose. She graduated from Brigham and Women’s Nursing School and began her career as a nurse before returning to school at UMass Amherst’s “School Without Walls,” where she became deeply drawn to mental health, women’s wellness, and whole-person care. She helped create several whole-health environments, established a private practice, and later continued her education at Harvard, always seeking new ways to improve mental health in her community.

She married young and raised four beautiful children. After a divorce she found love and welcomed a fifth child. As her life continued she found love again and lived fully. After life’s many chapters, she learned to love herself fully before finding her true love and a sense of peace and ease.

Kate developed a passion for travel and cherished visiting historical places, as well as staying home and hanging out with her “peeps”. She loved her work in the mental health field and making a difference.

She lived with dementia for several years, with the disease progressing rapidly over the past year, and she passed peacefully this past weekend.

She is survived by her children: Jennifer Merlino (husband Steve), Adam Conrad (wife Elizabeth), Rachel Conrad (partner Charles), Juliana Bellich (husband Michael), and Emma O’Connell; her grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Kasidy, Tom, Corey, Vivienne, McKenzie, Talya, Lily, Olivia, Rocco, Gideon, Meraide, and Corey; her siblings Terry O’Connell, Anne O’Connell, Gene O’Connell, and Amy Ross; as well as many dear friends.

Kate touched countless lives and taught us that with a little gumption and some elbow grease, anything is possible.

A celebration of life will be held in the spring.