Celeste Eileen Sefranek

Portsmouth, RI - Celeste Eileen Paul Sefranek, 58, of 17 Dighton Avenue, Portsmouth, RI, died Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at St. Clare Home, Newport, RI.She was the wife of Charles Anthony Sefranek. Born in Allentown, PA on June 4, 1952, she was the daughter of the late Roy A. and Eleanor Kauffman Paul. Mrs. Sefranek graduated from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, PA in 1970 and went on to attend Allentown School of Nursing receiving an RN in 1973. She worked as a weaver at the Erie Canal Village in Rome, NY. After moving to Portsmouth, RI she worked briefly in the classified ad department of Newport Daily News and as the office manager for Stumpf Balloons. She authored the novel The Berlin Covenant and published several short stories. She was an artisan, a hospice volunteer for the Visiting Nurse Service, the hospital clown Dr. Feel Better at St. Ann s Hospital and was also known as the clown Granny Buttons. She was a volunteer at St. Anthonys Church in Portsmouth and knitted baby clothes for the Newport Hospital maternity ward.Besides her husband of 36 years, she is survived by her sons, Louis W. Sefranek and his wife Lynn Marie Gaudette Sefranek of Wake Forest, NC, James A. Sefranek and his wife Jennifer West Sefranek of Hebron, KY, Jeffrey K. Sefranek and his wife Erin E. McMahon Sefranek of Charlestown, RI and Allen C. Sefranek and his partner Zachary L. Turner of Murfreesboro, TN, four grandchildren Wyatt Heath Sefranek, Cullen D. Sefranek, Ava E. Sefranek and Cailin Jane Sefranek, her brother Michael Paul of Newtown, PA and her sister Janice Schuler of Allentown, PA.Calling hours will be held on Sunday, October 3, 2010, from 5-8 in the Connors Funeral Home, 55 West Main Road, Portsmouth, RI.Her funeral will be held on Monday, October 4, 2010, at 9:00 am from the Connors Funeral Home, 55 West Main Road, Portsmouth, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am in St. Anthonys Church, 2836 East Main Road, Portsmouth. A private burial will be held on Tuesday, October, 5, 2010, in Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Exeter.Donations in her memory may be made to Visiting Nurse Services of Bristol and Newport Counties, 1184 East Main Road, Portsmouth, RI 02871.