Obituary for Kathleen C. Raleigh (Cusack)
WATERVLIET, NY - Kathleen C. Raleigh, 90 of Watervliet, passed away peacefully at her home, where she lived for 65 years, surrounded by family on 15 April 2023.
Born in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, Ireland, Kathleen was the second of four children of Thomas and Mary (Scales) Cusack. At the age of 19, shortly after graduating from Seamount boarding school in Kinvara, County Galway, Kathleen emigrated to the U.S. arriving first in New York City. Not long after she arrived, on a weekend trip with cousins and girlfriends to the Catskills Region, she met her future husband Thomas. Their long-distance courtship continued during Tom’s military service as a paratrooper in Kentucky and two years later they wed.
After the wedding, Tom and Kathleen moved to Watervliet where they raised their four children. Kathleen was cook, seamstress, tailor, hairdresser, barber and overall household organizer for her family. While the children were still young, she attended night school at Troy High to earn her G.E.D. She worked for over a decade at the NYS Department of Taxation, a job she enjoyed and through which she met wonderful people who would become life-long friends.
Church, faith and prayer were a central part of Kathleen’s life. She was a communicant of St. Patrick’s and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parishes in Watervliet where she served as an eucharistic minister. She was also a member of the Secular Order of St Francis-St. Bernadine of Siena Fraternity.
In her retirement, Kathleen enjoyed spending time with her friends, and visiting and traveling with her children and caring for her grandchildren.
She was preceded by her beloved husband Thomas Raleigh, her brother Michael Cusack and her sisters Mary Armstrong and Margaret Droney.
She is survived by her daughters Kathleen (George) and Mary McGuire, sons Tommy and Sean (Tracy), her13 grandchildren: Erik, Ryan and Kevin Suspanic, Katie Joseph (Jack), Charlie, Jack, Molly, and Maggie McGuire, Jack and Patrick Raleigh, and Tommy, Connor and Liam Raleigh, her three great-grandchildren: Emma, Olivia and Ellie Joseph, and her beloved cousins, nieces and nephews in the States and in Ireland.
The family expresses their deep appreciation to Kathleen’s physicians and specialists over the years, and more recently to home care providers and hospice, for their friendliness and compassion.
Relatives and friends are invited to visit with the Raleigh family on Thursday April 20th from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the Parker Bros. Memorial Funeral Home, 2013 Broadway, Watervliet, N.Y. 12189.
Funeral services will be Friday April 21st at 11 a.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary, 2416 7th Avenue, Watervliet, N.Y. her funeral Mass will be celebrated. Burial will follow at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, 150 Troy-Schenectady Road, Watervliet, N.Y.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Community Hospice www.communityhospice.org or Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Watervliet & Green Island https://www.rcda.org/parishes/parish/immaculate-heart-mary-parish-watervliet-green-island-watervliet-ny.
To leave a message the family please visit www.parkerbrosmemorial.com.
Born in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, Ireland, Kathleen was the second of four children of Thomas and Mary (Scales) Cusack. At the age of 19, shortly after graduating from Seamount boarding school in Kinvara, County Galway, Kathleen emigrated to the U.S. arriving first in New York City. Not long after she arrived, on a weekend trip with cousins and girlfriends to the Catskills Region, she met her future husband Thomas. Their long-distance courtship continued during Tom’s military service as a paratrooper in Kentucky and two years later they wed.
After the wedding, Tom and Kathleen moved to Watervliet where they raised their four children. Kathleen was cook, seamstress, tailor, hairdresser, barber and overall household organizer for her family. While the children were still young, she attended night school at Troy High to earn her G.E.D. She worked for over a decade at the NYS Department of Taxation, a job she enjoyed and through which she met wonderful people who would become life-long friends.
Church, faith and prayer were a central part of Kathleen’s life. She was a communicant of St. Patrick’s and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parishes in Watervliet where she served as an eucharistic minister. She was also a member of the Secular Order of St Francis-St. Bernadine of Siena Fraternity.
In her retirement, Kathleen enjoyed spending time with her friends, and visiting and traveling with her children and caring for her grandchildren.
She was preceded by her beloved husband Thomas Raleigh, her brother Michael Cusack and her sisters Mary Armstrong and Margaret Droney.
She is survived by her daughters Kathleen (George) and Mary McGuire, sons Tommy and Sean (Tracy), her13 grandchildren: Erik, Ryan and Kevin Suspanic, Katie Joseph (Jack), Charlie, Jack, Molly, and Maggie McGuire, Jack and Patrick Raleigh, and Tommy, Connor and Liam Raleigh, her three great-grandchildren: Emma, Olivia and Ellie Joseph, and her beloved cousins, nieces and nephews in the States and in Ireland.
The family expresses their deep appreciation to Kathleen’s physicians and specialists over the years, and more recently to home care providers and hospice, for their friendliness and compassion.
Relatives and friends are invited to visit with the Raleigh family on Thursday April 20th from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the Parker Bros. Memorial Funeral Home, 2013 Broadway, Watervliet, N.Y. 12189.
Funeral services will be Friday April 21st at 11 a.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary, 2416 7th Avenue, Watervliet, N.Y. her funeral Mass will be celebrated. Burial will follow at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, 150 Troy-Schenectady Road, Watervliet, N.Y.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Community Hospice www.communityhospice.org or Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Watervliet & Green Island https://www.rcda.org/parishes/parish/immaculate-heart-mary-parish-watervliet-green-island-watervliet-ny.
To leave a message the family please visit www.parkerbrosmemorial.com.