Kathleen Diane Holmes Appell, a longtime resident of Massapequa and active parishioner at St. Rose of Lima R.C. Church, Massapequa, March 5, 2014 in the hospital She was 72 years old.Mrs. Appell was born on June 7, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota to Alvin F. and Ruth Shepard Holmes.  She graduated from Duluth Cathedral High School in 1959 and in the mid 1960s she went to work for the Marine Corps at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.In 1965 she married and moved to Long Island, first to Baldwin, then Freeport and finally to Massapequa where she raised five children.She volunteered her time at St. Rose of Lima as a catechist. She also worked at McKenna Elementary School in Massapequa and in the Massapequa Chiropractic Office as a receptionist.“My mother was a loving and caring woman,” said her son Ken Appell of Massapequa. “She was affectionate and generous and touched the lives of many people over the years.”She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother John Holmes, her sister Elizabeth Hallerand brother-in-law Dale Sulkowski, her nephew Kurt Sulkowski and niece Tammy Radcliffe.She is survived by children, Kevin of Lindenhurst, Kurt and his wife Liz of Oakdale, Kenneth of Massapequa. Kyle of Palmyra, New York and Karen Lorelle and her husband Greg of Oakdale.  Six grandchildren, Casey, Victoria, Ryan Appell and Dylan, Jake, and Tyler Lorelle also survive her as do her siblings, Phyllis Sulkowski, Joan Abernethy and her husband Bill, Thomas Holmes and his wife Vernette and Dick Holmes and his wife Patti Jo; her, brother-in-law John Haller and many nieces and nephews and other relatives and friends.Memorial donations in her name can be sent to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, MA 01202, or the American Cancer Society at P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123