Obituary of Ouida Kaye DeMetz McGrath

On Saturday, August 3rd, 2024, Ouida Kaye DeMetz McGrath finally hung up her tap shoes and danced peacefully to her eternal reward in the company of her family.  The crowd that showered her with love and attention in her final days was an appropriate tribute to the way she lived her life — often surrounded by friends and bringing joy to all she met with her vibrant personality and innate kindness.

The daughter of the late John A. and Ouida (Cragin) DeMetz, Kaye was born on November 25, 1940, in Atlanta, Georgia.  She was a world traveler who thrived wherever she landed.  In her hometown of Pass Christian, MS, she was half of the "Darling DeMetz Dancing Duo," performing tap numbers with her older brother Fred. She graduated as valedictorian at Pass Christian High School, but not before her exuberant personality won her "Silliest Sophomore," one of her prouder achievements.  At Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, she majored in theater and was a founding member of the now-famous LSU Golden Girls dance team.

After college, she taught first at Ursuline Academy and then Alcee Fortier High School in New Orleans.  As a Chicago-based flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, she met her future husband, Daniel.  Her energy and intellectual curiosity led her to travel around the world, spending time teaching in Australia before returning to New Orleans to pursue her Master’s in theater at the University of New Orleans.  True to form, she was so successful in this endeavor that she was hired as a professor at the university and simultaneously pursued her doctoral degree in theater at Florida State University.

In 1976, Kaye married Daniel and moved to join him in New York, but she did not slow down.  She worked in publishing, taught, choreographed, acted, and wrote articles for various publications.  Her most important priority, however, was her family — in particular, her two sons Stephen and Patrick.

After a lengthy sabbatical to raise her beloved boys, she returned to her great vocation of teaching, this time at Bergen County Community College as professor of theater and communications and theater producer.  Kaye was in demand as a dynamic speaker and presented at Oxford University in England and at the University of Tartu in Estonia, among others.

She retired in 2016 after more than two decades at Bergen Community College, beloved by faculty and students alike.  She loved to spend her free time in the Poconos, swimming, playing tennis with her many friends, and going for her trademark exercise, the "wog" (a mix of walking and jogging).  In her final two and a half years she was a frequent visitor to her family in Powhatan, Virginia, while she helped to care for her husband of 47 years, Daniel, who died in 2023. She loved to produce impromptu theatricals with her seven grandchildren.

Kaye is survived by her sons, Stephen McGrath and Patrick McGrath and Patrick’s wife, Laura; grandchildren, Amelie, Max, Therese, Jude, John Vianney, Evangeline, and Genevieve; her brother Fred DeMetz, sister-in-law Sharon DeMetz, nephews Brian and David DeMetz; as well as a host of friends.

Visitation will be at the St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Lords Valley, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, from 9:30 to 10:30 AM followed by the celebration of a Mass of Christian Burial with Reverend Edward Casey officiating. Burial will be at the St. Ann’s Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest alongside her loving and devoted husband.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Mercy Ships (https://give.mercyships.org/).

  Funeral arrangements were entrusted to the Stroyan Funeral Home, 405 West Harford Street, Milford, Pennsylvania 18337 (www.stroyanfuneralhome.com).