Utica College Adjunct to Release Book on Dementia

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Utica College Adjunct to Release Book on Dementia

Cominsky Shares Story of Father’s Unconditional Love for Mother with Dementia

Catherine Cominsky, also known by her pen name, Kate Hanley, has written a book titled “Breakfast Memories: A Dementia Love Story,” which will be released on August 6.

Cominsky, a longtime adjunct at Utica College and former director of international admissions, was inspired to write the book after watching her father care for her mother.

“Breakfast Memories: A Dementia Love Story” offers a bridge of hope and inspiration as Cominsky shares her experience with her mother’s dementia. As the story progresses, in lock step with her mother’s condition, Cominsky discovers a cache of daily love devotionals her dad had penned to her mother every morning on a paper napkin. The discovery of these love sonnets was the key to unlocking the window into her mother’s soul, and gives Kate glimpses back into the world of who her mother once was. A beautiful story full of love, laughter, and possibility, this book inspires others walking this path to know and believe that even in the darkest times of despair, there is reason to hope and remember that love is never forgotten.

Cominsky describes the book as a story of what she saw and felt as a daughter when her mother experienced dementia, and how her father’s love through their 65 years of marriage and courtship proved the definitive weapon against this disease. Cominsky likens herself to a sports spectator observing a competitive match between dementia and love: “Dementia had won the blue-ribbon prize physically - but my dad’s love, in poetic words, had beaten dementia at its own unfair game.”

Cominsky earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from SUNY Geneseo in 1983. She went on to earn her master’s degree in leadership and inclusion from Utica College. Cominsky began working as a national sales manager for Cathedral Corporation in 2011.

Published by Green Place Books, “Breakfast Memories: A Dementia Love Story” can be preordered at www.breakfastmemories.com and will be available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the UC bookstore. Cominsky plans to do book signings on July 20 at the Old Forge Library from 1 to 4 p.m.; Aug. 9 at the New Hartford Barnes and Noble from 5 to 7 p.m., and Aug. 23 at the Old Forge Farmers’ Market from 1 to 4 p.m.