Obituary of Kevin Patrick Christensen

Kevin Christensen passed away peacefully while surrounded by his family on August 19, 2022, after fighting as hard as he could for 75 days following a lung transplant. He is survived by his loving wife of almost 47 years, Denise, his three daughters, Colleen Carlino, Megan Sorrentino, and Katelyn Damanis, their husbands, Jason, Justin, and George, and his eight grandchildren, Hunter, Taryn, Stella, Lucy, Chris, Cole, William, and Peter, as well as many extended family members and beloved friends. Kevin was born and raised in Queens, New York to Edward and Molly Christensen. He was the youngest of the family and had two loving siblings, his sister Regina and his brother Edward. His family was humble and helped shape him into the loving man he was. While his family attempted to encourage him to become a priest, one blind date with Denise, set up by her best friend Susan, was all it took for priesthood to go out the window. After Kevin realized he “massively liked her,” there was no turning back. They were high school sweethearts and after courting for many years, he finally proposed 32,000 feet in the air on an American Airlines plane. Then, on a beautiful day with torrential downpours and flooded streets, Kevin put on the most 70’s pale gray, ruffled bell bottom tuxedo possible and married the love of his life. Rain on your wedding day is said to bring good luck and it certainly did for Kevin. After marrying his soulmate, he was welcomed into Denise’s family as a son and brother, even if he was too skinny and Denise’s mom could never fatten him up like she wanted to. Soon Kevin and Denise started a family of their own that grew from a cat (the first of many) to three daughters. He always talked about how lucky he was to have three amazing daughters and while he wouldn’t admit it, he loved all the cats, even Hercules. He most certainly was a very hands on father. He would always jump in to help his family, even so much as delivering his youngest daughter in the car on the side of the road… seriously. He embraced being a total girl dad, from gymnastics, to tap dancing, girl scouts, softball, and ice skating (even though we all knew he really went to go to the video arcade to keep his top score on the racing game). He was also a great friend to all that met him and would never shy away from a good game of horseshoes in the park. He loved traveling even when it required sitting in middle seats, on multiple flights, after waiting on standby for hours, and he never complained (totally kidding). Once he was out of the airport, he was always willing to do whatever adventure Denise had planned, like driving five hours to a random cottage with grass on the roof in a western ghost town, or taking a helicopter to a glacier in the middle of the wilderness. National Parks were his favorite and as long as his camera was around his neck, he was in his glory. His day job was being a fancy accountant with a long title, as numbers were his thing, but his passion was photography and music. While Denise loved bringing home tchotchkes from their many adventures, Kevin captured the memory in his photos. Every inch of wall space in his house is covered with photos. From pictures of gorgeous landscapes, castles, sunsets, to pictures of the moon, random mushrooms growing in the woods, to leaves falling, to reflections in a lake, Kevin captured it all. When he wasn’t capturing the world through his lenses, he was playing music at his keyboard. From the Beatles to the Eagles and Showtunes, he played it all. The beauty of the keyboard was it could travel, and Kevin would bring it with him for a family dinner or to jam with friends. At events where music was playing, you know he was waiting for the musician to take a break to jump right in. He had music in his soul and if he wasn’t playing the music, you know he was dancing to it. The dance floor was his happy place and if you were near him when Twist and Shout came on, you were being pulled onto the dance floor too. He went through life living by the slogan, “go with the flow,” and he lived up to that ideal with his easy going, friendly attitude, except when stuck in traffic (that’s when the New Yorker in him came out). His love of life only grew when his grandkids came along. He became the storyteller and always took the time to point out the world to the grandkids. From collecting pine cones, to pointing out the moon, it was all for Pa. From simple walks, to playing games or Play-Doh, to big family vacations, he loved spending time with them. He embraced his life with love, laughter, vigor, compassion and was endearingly stubborn. He was the storyteller, the music man, the peacemaker, grandpa Pops, Pa, Pop pop, Grumpa, KC, Kev, Dad, brother, son, the love of Denise’s life and simply Kevin. Without a doubt, Kevin’s time with all of us was too short, but no length of time would have been long enough. He will be dearly missed by everyone who loved him, but he will live on through every memory, every picture, every song, every sunset and every full moon. Thank you Kevin for showing us all what a wonderful world this truly is. While the transplant did not give Kevin the extra time he deserved, we hope that in lieu of flowers you will consider donating to UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, so that other organ recipients may get their chance at a second life.