(January 7, 1917-February 28, 2003)

MALONE--Jean Eleanor Karleskent, 86, Malone, died Friday at her home in the presence of her family and under the care of Hospice.

 Mrs. Karleskent acted as secretary at Karleskent Insurance Agency, which she and her husband owned. The agency is now owned by their son Richard. A homemaker, she enjoyed sewing, reading, music and playing the piano.

 Born Jan. 7, 1917, in Norwood, daughter of William and Anna Collins Reynolds, she moved with her family to Utica when she was a young child.

 She married Kenneth J. "Tex Kent" Karleskent on Jan. 8, 1938, in Utica. In the early 1940s she and her husband moved to Malone, where Mr. Karleskent operated West End Auto Service before going into the insurance business. Mr. Karleskent died of a heart attack in Florida.

 Surviving are two sons and a daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law, Richard K. and Judith, Malone, and Robert, Duanesburg; two daughters and their husbands, Carolyn and Kerry Lavendoski, South Carolina, and Laurel and Steven Cook, Constable; two sisters, Wilda Jay, Florida, and Laurel Hoskins, Georgia; a brother, William Reynolds, Leonardsville, 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

 A memorial service will be held at the Malone Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses at the convenience of the family. The body will be cremated.

 There will be no calling hours. Arrangements are with Spaulding Funeral Home.

 Donations may be made to Hospice of the North Country.

(From the Monday, March 3, 2003 edition of the Watertown Daily Times, page D5).