Obituary of Kathleen Campbell Fabbri-Benham

Kathleen Campbell Fabbri-Benham passed away peacefully at her home in Rowayton, CT on Saturday, July 27, 2024. Before her passing, she was surrounded by what she would call "oodles" of her loving family and friends. Kay, Kayzie, or Gammy, as she was affectionately known, had almost 100 years of an engaged and active life. Born on March 24, 1925 in Los Angeles, California, she was the daughter of the late Doreen Kavanagh Campbell (a four-time California state women's golf champion, as Mom proudly reminded us often) and the late William Wilson Campbell (a frequent contender for the men's state title). Kay shared many a fond memory of growing up in Beverly Hills, Westwood, and Newport Beach as the eldest of five siblings. She had a charmed childhood as a guest at Hearst Castle riding horses and going to the racetrack to watch Sea Biscuit. She graduated from Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy before attending UCLA and UC Berkeley. At UCLA and UC Berkeley, she was a proud member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and was voted Chapter Queen by her sorority sisters in 1944. After college, she moved to New York City where one of her first jobs was at LIFE Magazine in the Fashion Department. Later in life, Kay loved the show "Madmen," as it reminded her of her time living in New York. She worked at the Waldorf Astoria in Public Relations and for the cosmetics entrepreneur, Madame Rubenstein. Kay pursued her love of fashion, fabrics, and color by attending the New York School of Interior Design. She loved nothing more than being fashionable herself, always dressed for the occasion, and she never, ever, left the house without her pink lipstick. Kay married Alessandro Fabbri (deceased), in New York City and announced she did "not want to be a Central Park housewife," so they moved to Darien, CT in 1960. They had two "darling" children, Peter and Germana. Kay was a member of the Darien Board of Realtors and an agent for Scott Associates (then Halstead, and now Brown Harris Stevens). At one time, she was celebrated for selling the most expensive home on record on Long Neck Point in Darien. She was generous, sympathetic, and loved to help other people, demonstrated by her volunteer work for the Red Cross. Kay was possibly the longest living member at 64 years at Wee Burn Country Club. An avid swimmer in Long Island Sound, tennis player, paddle player, and golfer, Kay enjoyed tournament victories with favorite friends throughout the decades. She could be found almost every night of the summer picnicking at the beach. She became a duplicate bridge player and loved nothing more than a good hand. Kay was remarried in 2003 to Jim Benham, her golf and life partner until he was deceased in 2010. Throughout her life, Kay was an illustrious artist. She painted farm, snow, and beach scenes akin to Grandma Moses, and later portraits of her six grandchildren whom she adored. Many of her works were exhibited in the Darien Art Show, where the editor of "House & Garden" purchased one of her lively and colorful paintings. She later took to drawing and made all of her own greeting cards and comic strips, which are keepsakes for her loved ones to this day. Kay is survived by her son, Peter Campbell Fabbri and wife Melissa of Simsbury, CT; her daughter Germana Fabbri and husband Mason Day of Kentfield, CA; her grandchildren Caitlin Fabbri Register and husband Robert of Charlotte, NC; Liza Fabbri Kowalski and husband Jordan of West Hartford, CT; Sayles Day of Boulder, CO; Campbell Day of San Francisco, CA; Nye Day of Boston, MA; and Hodges Day of Kentfield, CA. Kay was predeceased by her siblings Jean "Jeannie" Campbell of Los Angeles, William W. "Billy" Campbell of Greenwich, CT (Marjorie Knox Campbell), Patricia "Patsy" Beaver (Jim Beaver) of Palm Desert, CA, and Mary Appleby (Addison Appleby) of La Jolla, CA. A Celebration of Life will be held at Wee Burn Country Club on Sunday, October 20th. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.