Kyle Beth McDonald Conlan, born July 21, 1967, in Peru, Indiana, died August 8, 2023, surrounded by family, in The Villages, Florida. Kyle was a special person who balanced a spirit of fierceness with her physical frailty.
As a young teen, Kyle was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma and was treated at St. Jude Children’s Research hospital. Long-term effects of her childhood illness and treatment contributed to her passing at such a young age. Kyle was proud of her association with St. Jude and her participation in their long-term follow-up study. Since the 1970s, the research conducted at St Jude has been instrumental in more than tripling the long-term survival rate of children with rhabdomyosarcoma.
As the daughter of an Air Force serviceman, Kyle’s family moved bases throughout the southeast frequently, but Kyle considered Biloxi, Mississippi as her childhood home. Kyle moved to New York in the mid-1980s with her first husband, Thomas Wichtendal, with whom she had two sons, Thomas and Jacob Wichtendahl. Kyle remarried to Christopher Conlan in 1999 and raised their two sons Patrick and Aidan Conlan in Yorktown Heights, NY. While raising her families, Kyle had several careers, including business administration, account and customer service management, ophthalmology technician, and preschool teacher.
Kyle cherished her friends and her family. She is predeceased by her father, James McDonald, and her first ex-husband, Thomas Wichtendahl. She is survived by her mother, Maryanne Nemergut (Jake), her ex-husband, Christopher Conlan, her 4 sons, Thomas Wichtendahl (Anita), Jacob Wichtendahl (Rebecca), Patrick Conlan, and Aidan Conlan, as well as four beloved grandchildren Killian, Amelia, Avery, and Hudson.
If Kyle, her children, or grandchildren have touched your life, please consider a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
